Sep 04 2007
master of your words
A friend and colleague Kristal Dove, suggested that I check out the blog of her friend Brett Andrews, when she heard that I was starting this project. Blog watching is a growing addiction of mine so I did so right away. On my first visit I encountered a wonderful gem of wisdom. He was writing about spending some time with old books and we wrote this.
One book I picked up was a collection of old Peter Marshall sermons entitled “Apples of Gold.” Other than reading the Bible, nothing encourages me more than reading old sermons. (perhaps, this is why I’m a preacher?)
One line from the first sermon was an “apple of gold”: “The solemn thing about words is that before you speak them, you are their master. After you speak them, they are your master.”
(The next time you get into an emotional discussion, the next time someone is pushing your buttons, or the next time you type an email you’re not sure you should send, those are good words to remember.)
That is good advice and I love the image from the quote. Words hastily spoken do become like a cruel master to us. They can never be taken back.
[Later that night I watched an episode of “Everybody Love’s Raymond” and I realized that this show is almost entirely driven by the stupid things that Raymond says which then become his master.]
As I post this now I realize that secrets (of the sort discussed in my last post) work the opposite way: Unspoken they are our master, and once spoken we can master them.
on the walk
-Ethan
UPDATE: I was looking through Mark today and I noticed a great example of this. Check out the account of the death of John the Baptist in Mark 6.
