Sometimes the Message Bible says it like it is…
1 There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:
2-8 A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 MSG (The Message Bible)
That’s right, friends.
There are times when we need to just shut up.
And a time to speak up.
Oh, how difficult it can be to know the difference!! Am I right??
A time for everything on earth.
The older I get, the more I learn there is wisdom in being quiet and hearing what others have to say. I have an awful tendency to interrupt too often and cut people off (unintentionally so). It’s a terrible habit that I wish to break.
And so I find myself holding my tongue and being quiet more often these days.
Sometimes a friend just needs someone to listen. We might not have all the words to say or the perfect response. That’s OKAY. An ear that hears is a rarity it seems.
A right time to shut up and another to speak up.
Give me wisdom, Lord, to do both.
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God tells me to shut up a lot – particularly when I am arguing with my kids. It’s actually an amazing way to stop a fight dead in its tracks!