My Big Mouth

Sunday morning was a beat down this week, with the rain and the cooler weather and the time change.  As someone said to me "It just isn't right to have a time change during Spring Break."  Here, here!

But, Nickels and I managed to make it to church.  I had a duty to fulfill for Children's Chapel and he had an apology to make to someone, so off we went, as usual, running five minutes behind. 

After service, I leaned over the pew and began a conversation with two Moms about Spring Break and their plans.  Both are teachers so having this precious time wedged in between Christmas and Summer breaks is probably more important to them than the usual family.

As we finished chatting, the family in the pew north of my teacher friends came into the conversation.  I won't divulge which family, but I will say that they are very sweet people who we would like to know better but just haven't had occasion to up to this point.

Dad happened to have heard about our Spring Break plans.  Which were a secret from the kids.  And this is where my big, fat mouth betrayed me.

See, in small churches/schools/neighborhoods where everyone is only one step removed from everyone else, people talk.  Not in a gossipy, ugly way.  They just chat about what is going on in life.  And someone whom I had spoken to had told this Dad about our plans for Spring Break.

Thankfully, Dad only divulged we were going to the beach, not which beach.  But, Nickels lit up like a firecracker.  "Oh, thank you, Mr. ____!"  And the look on Mr. ___'s face was abject horror.  His wife turned white as a ghost.

The backtracking and covering up was fun.  "You meant The Alps, right?"  I joked, as he stammered out an apology.  Thankfully, he's a joking kind of person who retorted "Surely your MISSIONS PROJECT is going to go well."  "Yes" I added, "I hear deep South Dallas is REALLY in need."

I felt so bad for Mr. ___.  He said something so innocuous, so innocent, that apologizing for accidentally putting him in that position was the least I could do.  I held myself responsible because I WAS!  Had I just kept my big mouth shut about our plans, the cat never would have exited the bag.* 

Isn't that the trouble with our tongues?  We wag them and those who hear what we've said sometimes repeat our words.  And, if we aren't careful with what we've said, those words can come back to haunt us, even if they aren't necessarily bad or mean or wrong.

I don't always remember this lesson about the tongue.  Sometimes, I am speaking and I think "OH NO.  Something about saying that just doesn't feel right."  And I can fix my mistake by shutting up.

But, too many times, I finish speaking and it is only much later that I realize I've made a mistake.  Maybe I'm confronted because I've hurt someone.  Or someone is hurt by what I've said but the hurt is so deep that they won't even talk to me to let me know.

That's why we are teaching our kids this lesson about the power of words so early, so they know that the tongue is one of the strongest muscles in the body.

It can be used for good and it can be used for evil.  It must be tamed.  If left unchecked, it can, destroy relationships, and literally, fell nations.

In this particular case, there was no harm.  I promised the other family to give them a blow-by-blow report when we return.  Maybe that opened the door to getting to know them better?

And, now Nickels has a secret that he is having to learn to keep from his other two brothers.  Surely the lesson in that, keeping confidences so as to not ruin a surprise for someone else, is a good one.  It can join the "Santa" secret he and Hooman have to keep until The Babe figures out the goods later in life.

And, I'm sure, as we are picking up trash along the highways in far, South Dallas, that we will be enjoying every moment of it.

Wink.  Wink. 

*And, I added, mostly directed to Mr. ___'s wife, that it is simply easier NOT to let children know the plans, because they start asking way too many questions and getting antsy WAY before the trip.  And that drives me so incredibly crazy that I want to cancel the whole shooting match.