For those of you who had the privilege to know my father he was a man who was known to put a unique perspective on the travails of life. Often times it was humorous, with words we never knew were in the English language before, and others more often, simple, straight to the point and profound in their application and meaning. I remember one of his more common phrases, usually when I or one of my siblings would screw up and do something amazingly stupid. He would just shake his head and say, " You know, common sense is a course that they should teach in high school and you must pass it to graduate and be allowed to go on in life!" I would think, whoa thanks dad! Nothing like parental support at a time of one of my more egregious episodes of prolonged boneheadedness. But after rectifying my mistake and learning my lesson, it gave me pause to understand the clarity and simplistic truth of his statement. We could often sidestep a whole lot of pitfalls and prevent dining on our own feet if we would just use our God given gift of common sense. Yes, that's right God given! He so wisely gave it to us and life's road along with loving parental guidance, a good set of ears and a mouth twice as small as the one we often use, refines it's application. At least in practical theory, it should. But alas, as we see everyday in our world the opposite is often true.
Just listen to a speech or quote by almost any politician regarding current policy or legislation, almost anything that pours out of an entertainers mouth, notable interviews from famous athletes, news anchors and commentators or opinion editorial journalists in many papers. How about some of our neighbors and family members? Or most certainly ourselves! Even worse yet, how about our biblically educated and supposedly enlightened clergy, who from the place of the pulpit are supposed to speak the Truth and quite often are a test case in contradictory evidence for true Christianity. How about many of our young people today? At least the young folks have the partial excuse of inexperience and ignorance to blame. The rest of us should not be accorded such grace. There just seems to be an overall lacking in thinking before we speak or act period. It's becoming more hurtful, candid and even unthinkably worse, tolerated. Frankly, it's an epidemic and I think I know why. We have a breakdown in moral absolution and reasoning.
As the family unit suffers in an age of redefining and our societies morals change, so does our ability to reason effectively and cope with situations. The foundational structures and teachers of such principles that used to be there such as a strong family along with moral,spiritual and educational supports are eroding. Where we used to draw on good advice from mom and dad, older siblings, trusted teachers, our local priest or pastor, lifelong friends we trust, or our own good conscience, we now feel both external and self imposed internal pressure to make snap decisions or judgments without consulting anyone other than Facebook or Google or slowing down Too often they hurt us or others because we didn't take the time to think, pray, seek help or just wait a bit. So out it comes raw and unfiltered instead of smooth and tempered. Or we take hasty action and cause further harm to an already delicate circumstance thereby making it worse. Sometimes we blurt out something so preposterously stupid it leaves everyone speechless and us mortified. How many times have you said to yourself, "What was I thinking?" Sound familiar?
The solution is simple and the same it always has been. Seek Him who is and teaches patience, compassion, knowledge and the peace that surpasses all understanding. Read and meditate on His perfect word. Be wise enough to seek and listen to good counsel from those people He puts in your life's pathway. Tell the truth, no matter what and remember that our words and actions are no longer our property when they leave us. Finally, understand that you are not here to be all the world wants you to be but rather what God wants you to be. After all it's better to be part of the solution than all of the problem!
Ephesians 4:29
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good
for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those
who hear.
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