Closing the Barn Door
How do you learn lessons?
If you are like me, it is usually the hard way. Is there an easy way to learn?
As you fence in your property with thorns, so make a door and a bolt for your mouth. As you lock up your silver and gold, so make balances and scales for your words. Take care not to err with your tongue, and fall victim to one lying in wait. - Sirach 28:24-26
This Sirach guy is pretty smart, isn't he? He would have enjoyed talking with my mother who used to reprimand me after I said something I regretted, telling me my apology was as effective as locking the barn door after the horse had run away.
We didn't have a barn and couldn't afford horses, but I understood the meaning. I should have kept my mouth shut.
So, we have this guy who came up with all this great wisdom (see below for more on Sirach), and it has been around a long time. Do we follow what he says?
It seems like that barn door, I tend to be a day late when it comes to getting the message.
But I have found there is more than one way to get myself in trouble, even if I take his advice and bolt the door of my mouth. Sometimes not saying something can be just as bad as saying the wrong thing.
Many a politician found that out when questioned when they learned of an event like a break in or a breech of policy or law.
Having a bolted tongue may be a bad thing.
It is not always easy to know when to speak up and when to keep silent, and it is harder still to know what to say when saying nothing seems like the safest path to take.
While honesty may be the best policy, people aren't always asking for an honest opinion when they tell us about something in their lives that is bothering them. They may not be looking for advice at all, so to give it may be hurtful, whether we mean to be mean or not.
So, the lesson?
Obviously this is nothing new, this idea of engaging our brains before opening our mouths, since the wisdom is handed down to us from two centuries before Christ, but with the explosion of instantaneous communication in recent decades, it makes sense to reconsider it now.
Listen. Think. Speak. or Button the Lip.
That's what I take away form this.
I don't always have to be right or get in the last word. - That was hard to say.
So, let me shut up and get back to work.
More to c ome...
More on Sirach
The Book of Sirach, also known as Ecclesiasticus, was written by a scribe named Joshua and he was the grandson of Sira (Sirach). He lived in Jerusalem about 200 years before Jesus was born. His text was written in Hebrew and translated into Greek by his grandson. So by the time Jesus came into the picture, the wisdom of Sirach would have been widely known.
Image Copyright: rmorijn / 123RF Stock Photo