one decision that can reduce stress…

have you noticed how much stress a single word can bring into your life? have you noticed how much stress the word “yes” can bring into your life? “can we have office party at your house this next weekend?” yes! stress! “can you get this thirty day project done in ten days?” you want to impress the boss, show everyone you’re superman – yes! stress!

“mom, dad, can i go out with billy “bad to the bone” jones?” no! you’ve got to draw the line somewhere. you can’t say yes to everything. yet sometimes, because we want to impress people, sometimes because we haven’t learned how to say no, sometimes because we feel inadequate, sometimes because we feel like we’re superman or superwoman, we say yes to everything we can and because of that the stresses start to pile up.

what is the one decision that you and i can make about our mouth that can drastically reduce the anxiety and stress load in our lives?

here it is. for less stress shut your mouth! i say that in the kindest way. i say that to myself as well as to you. when you shut your mouth it drastically reduces the stress. you shut the mouth and you listen to the other person. you hear what they have to say before you start responding immediately.

folks, it’s amazing to me how i respond to what they weren’t really trying to say in the first place. and if i would just shut my mouth for a few minutes i would have known.

listen to what james 1.19 (niv) in the new testament has to say about that. everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. that’s how those things build on one another. shut your mouth. don’t say yes so quickly. count to ten. wait a day. consider it before you say yes to it.

proverbs 17.28 (nlt) says that people who are wise don’t talk a lot. that’s one of the signs of wisdom. i love the way this verse ends. a truly wise person uses few words. even fools are thought to be wise when they keep silent. when they keep their mouth shut they seem intelligent.

for less stress shut your mouth. check your words.

just a thought from the front porch…