"Yes," "No," and "Ain't that Nice?"

I talk too much. No, it's true. I have had that pointed out to me untold times since babyhood (my mom swears I said my first word at eight months of age). I am gabby, chatty, loquacious, garrulous, voluble... or as I prefer it: FULL of words. I aim to change that, however. I intend to adopt my dad's suggestion of three responses to all questions and statements, "Yes," "No," or "Ain't that nice?" (The latter said mildly, with a slight southern accent).

Here's the deal: Jesus knew how to shut up. He didn't find it necessary to defend himself (Matt. 27:12); He didn't sell himself; He spoke truth and let it be (Luke 9:23). (One blog I stumbled across went so far as to say, "Jesus' advice sucked!"...well, that's because He didn't give much advice, but I cracked up when I read that), He preached and taught, but in parables, to spark the hearer's thinking. In fact, much of scripture condemns overspeech (my invented polictically correct term for verbal diahrhea):

Proverbs 10:19 "When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise." Proverbs 17:28 "Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent." Proverbs 29:20 "Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him." James 1:19 "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger."

 Ecclesiastes 5:2 "Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few."

 Proverbs 21:23 "Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble."

 Proverbs 18:2 "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion."

 Matthew 6:7 "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words."

So, my only argument is that Jesus was a MAN, HELLO! I'm a woman, and we NEED to use up the our alloted 7000 words per day (men speak only about 2000). If any given female were to use less than her quota, the words would built up inside her until there would be a verbal explosion!

 A little humor: "A husband looking through the paper came upon a study that said women use more words than men. Excited to prove to his wife that he had been right all along when he accused her of talking too much, he showed her the study results. It read "Men use about 15,000 words per day, but women use 30,000". The wife thought for a while, then finally she said to her husband 'It's because we have to repeat everything we say.' The husband said 'What?'" :)

 My little granddaughter, a certified GIRL, talks A LOT. One time, when she was about a year old, she sat quietly in her Dora chair while my son (her uncle) and I carried on a lively discussion. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, and she burst out in a stream of gibberish that lasted several minutes, accompanied by animated hand gestures. We burst out laughing, which only encourage her to continue. She needed to express her 7000 words, but lacked the vocabulary to do so, so she improvised!



But, in all honesty, my lack of verbal control leads to problems, including relational misunderstandings, overwhelming others with unsolicited opinions, hurt feelings...words I wish I could recover and bury. "Yes," "No," and "Ain't that Nice?" I think I'll give it a whirl.