"Familiar Conversation"

"Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:" (Psalms 64:2) Just because something is openly spoken of does not mean that it is worth listening to; most of what we say probably should just be kept to ourselves. Proverbs 21:23 says, "Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles." Here is an interesting quote, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." (Abraham Lincoln) To be perfectly honest, more negative things come out of my mouth than good and positive things. Maybe it's just because of what I have witnessed in life, thinking that is the way things are meant to be, that we naturally just talk dirt about somebody else; as if doing so somehow makes us feel better about ourselves. Two things that my mother would say to me come to mind; she would say of me talking about others, "Your better than that"; which I really did not understand what that meant until this very moment; and then she would say, "If you don't have anything good to say about someone, don't say anything." To the first statement, it's not so much a matter of being better, as much as it is a matter of making yourself feel better by not participating in gossip and slander. I am pretty sure those two statements were almost always together; maybe reversed from time to time, but not hardly ever left without the other. Just because it is popular to do something destructive does not mean that it is looked good upon, because it's not something that you want to be remembered for; besides, it is easy to find fault in others, unfortunately, when we practice such, we tend to start seeing the fault in ourselves far more than we see any good. That is what I think she meant, saying, "Your better than that"; because when we look for the good in others, we feel better about ourselves, because we can better see the good in ourselves; God does not make junk... "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again - rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me - everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:4-9) NLT