The Blender

"Watch your step when you enter God's house. Enter to learn. That's far better than mindlessly offering a sacrifice, Doing more harm than good. Don't shoot off your mouth, or speak before you think. Don't be too quick to tell God what you think he wants to hear. God's in charge, not you—the less you speak, the better. Overwork makes for restless sleep. Overtalk shows you up as a fool. When you tell God you'll do something, do it—now. God takes no pleasure in foolish gabble. Vow it, then do it. Far better not to vow in the first place than to vow and not pay up. Don't let your mouth make a total sinner of you. When called to account, you won't get by with "Sorry, I didn't mean it." Why risk provoking God to angry retaliation? But against all illusion and fantasy and empty talk. There's always this rock foundation: Fear God!"

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

How often do we find ourselves backtracking, trying to cover up things we've said? How many times do we appologize for speaking without thinking. Personally, I catch myself doing this more often than not. A few months ago, I was praying and got an image of a blender. At first, I was reminded of Obie's story about the spatula and I thought to myself, "No. No. Don't give me the spatula!" Then I saw the blender had no top on it. It turned on and everything in the blender went all over the counter, the floor, the cupboards...it was a mess. A gross, disgusting mess. Then it rewound and the top was on. The blender started mixing, and made a yummy shake. At first, I thought this was a bit odd, (still thinking I had the "spatula"-type image that would make sense to someone but was so random to me at the moment). Then, as I shared this, I realized it was for me. It was an image of my anxiety and fear of not being seen or heard. I speak without thinking. I voice oppinions when they come into my head out of fear that if I don't, I'll miss the opportunity to be heard. Something happens. It's as if the thoughts start on the "mix" setting and they start circling around my head. Then it's turned up to the "chop" setting, which seems to be the point when I think what I have to say is important. At this point it quickly goes from "blend" to "puree" and I feel the words pouring out of my mouth. This is much like turning on a blender with the top off. It ends up making a gross, disgusting mess. I stop speaking and realize the messiness of my words. The point that what I had to say really wasn't that important. Then I crack a joke or try to make excuses why I opened my mouth. If I had just been patient, put the lid on my words and waited on the Lord, the words that eventually came out would have been purposefull and good. This has been a humbling realization for me. Nothing I have to say is more important than what God is doing in any moment. I realize I need to put a lid on my mouth to make my words fruitfull. I'm not sure how many of you have been in this place, but it's not an easy thing to do. It's a lot of dying to myself and dying to my pride and realizing that, in the grand scheme of things, I'm really nothing compared to what God is doing in this world.