Do you T.H.I.N.K. before you speak?

In a more awkward period of my life I tried relating to people by speaking at them, rather than talking to them. Or even worse, not even listening to what they were saying. Wrapped up in my insecurities I had little time, or desire, to listen to what was going on in the life of my friends. Most of them understood where I was at emotionally, but few of them knew at 16 & 17 how to articulate on how I could be a better friend by listening vs. acting out and reflecting everything back onto myself. However, it is a true friend that can be honest and share a hard truth with you, and love you still in spite of your fault.

During this time I did happen to have a friend step up to the plate and tell me that I needed to do more listening than talking. She pointed the situation out to me, instead of skirting it like so many others did and for that I'll always be grateful. They were hard words to heat to be sure, because at the time I knew no other way to communicate, however, she was right and the lesson was invaluable. Her advice to me, "think before you speak." And when I was with her she enforced it too. Her rules were very simple if what I was about to say had nothing to do with the topic that was being discussed, basically necessary, or the first word out of my mouth was the word "I", or along those lines, then I couldn't say them and had to wait until I was addressed before I said something. What?! Craziness I tell you! But her rules proved to work themselves out and by simply taking those few extra moments to evaluate what it was I was about to say made a huge difference, and I started to realize how much of what was actually coming out of my mouth was gibberish. Slowly, but surely, the more I started to listen and keep my mouth shut, the more people started to include me in the conversation again, and even a few years later, when I was in the Navy, I was complimented by a supervisor for being a good listener and to quote him "no wonder people liked talking to me."Half the conversation is the exercise of listening to what is really being said.

This memory was brought to my mind by a post from IFB KJV Blog Directory. The post was called T.H.I.N.K. I like acronyms almost as much as I like words. They are great tools for remembering concepts, and the armed forces uses them with abandon. So with the authors permission I'm re-posting their thoughts on T.H.I.N.K.ing, and how we should use our words. T.H.I.N.K.ing before we speak, and then expound upon some of my own thoughts.

Truth ~ Are your words true (Galatians 6:1; Proverbs 16:16,17)

Helpful ~ Are your words helpful (Proverbs 16:24)

Inspiring ~ Are your words inspiring (Proverbs 15:26)

Necessary ~ Are your words necessary (Proverbs 17:28; 29:20)

Kind ~ Are your words kind (1 Corinthians 10:23)

Some other verses about using words:
John 3:8-10
Matthew 12:35-37
Ephesians 4:22-25
John 8:43-44
Proverbs 25:11

God has plenty to say about the power of words and how we aught to speak to one another. The Proverbs 31 woman has the law of kindness on her tongue (Proverbs 31:26). And there are many times that the Lord has recorded the fact that wisdom should be the words that we utter out of our mouths (Proverbs 31:26; Proverbs 18:4). Words, and the messages that they convey, are so important to the Lord that he chose a man by the name of Moses, who was not elloquent in his speech (Exodus 4:10), to speak on His behalf so that His words would be the focus of the message that he wanted to send to Pharaoh and the Israelites, and not Moses' own. The spirit of the Lord also moved upon the lips of other prophets so that he could continue to send messages to Israel (2 Samuel 23:2). And probably most necessary were the words that the Lord himself spoke (John 6:63). These words were many like John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the father but by me."

But with all of these words they all encompassed a T.H.I.N.K.ing process to them. They were all . . .
Truthful (Titus 1:1-3) ~ Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
Helpful (Mark 9:17-27)
Inspiring (Acts 26:6) ~ And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:
Necessary (Job 23:12) ~ Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food
Kind (Luke 23:34). ~ Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

Even in His last moments the Lord thought to offer up words of kindness for those that were mocking and killing him.

So do you T.H.I.N.K. before you speak?

If the Lord can think before He speaks, because lets face it if anyone had a reason to cry out an injustice He did, so should we T.H.I.N.K. before we speak and offer up wisdom, truth, and kindness in our words.

I'm eternally grateful that I had a friend teach me about using my words more wisely. Now it's up to the Lord to finish that work, Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it(1 Thessalonians 5:24).

I love words

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, or even if you just happened upon it, you know, or shall come to know that I love words! LOVE THEM! and any new one that I can learn and share I will. Usually I get hooked on them by the way they sound when I hear once they leave the speakers mouth. There's no rhyme or reason to it, but if I've never heard it before and I like it's sound, and especially if it seems like I can use it in a future sentence I'll learn it.

This habit started very early on in my life, I think back in 1st or 2nd grade, when after pestering my mom for the meanings of words she introduced me to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary. It's safe to say my verbal life since then has never been the same. Looking up the meanings of word also has come in handy when a dear friend of mine, now residing in TX, would ask me the definition of a word and I could usually give her the definition off the bat. Words, especially if they're edifying, just make life better. So yes, if you guessed correctly I have a new word. I heard it this morning on Good Morning America when Dr. Oz was describing an excuse a patient was giving him as to why he was not exercising, post heart surgery.

Cogent (koh-juhnt)
Part of speech: adjective
Etymology: Latin cogent-, cogens, present participle of cogere to drive together, collect, from co- + agere to drive
1. Convincing or believable by virtue of forcible, clear, or incisive presentation; telling.
2. To the point; relevant; pertinent.

So at least the patient was being honest with the Dr. and not trying to feed him a line. Most Dr's are astute enough to weed through the excuses anyway. You're fooling no one but yourself when you try to snow the Dr.

Still learning words

Just because my list is "over with" does not mean that I still won't be sharing the new things that I learn, especially words.

I found another one today reading Gluten Free Girl Recommends. I totally love it's meaning and will definitely try to find a way to incorporate it into my vernacular. I know the build up has been to much. . .so. . .I. . .won't. . .leave. . .you. . .in. . .suspense. . .anymore;)

Aplomb
Pronunciation: a-plom
Function: Noun
Etymology: French
Definition: Self-confident assurance; poise.

I should start a list of my favorite words on my sidebar. Do you have anywords that you claim as a favorite?

#12 on my list, Learn 30 new words (#6)

I'm thinking about changing the name of my blog once my 30 x 30 deadline is up and in searching for a word in the Thesaurus I came across this one.

Convivial
kuhn-viv-ee-uh-l

Part of Speech: Adjective
Definition: Fun-loving, Jovial

#12 on my list, Learn 30 new words (#5)

Truth time . . . I listen to talk radio. We actually have a pretty good talk radio station here in WA KIRO 97.3. I don't agree with everything that the talk show hosts say all the time, but I think they have a fairly decent balance of both sides of an issue. Dori Munson always hits the nail on the head. Plus the afternoon drive time guys Ron & Don are hilarious and sometimes even later at night I can catch TBTL (To Beautiful To Live), which is basically a bunch of random musings by someone who thinks fairly highly of himself, he's also funny but in a more intellectual way and this is where I got my new word.

Ex·co·ri·ate

Pronunciation: ek-'skor-e-ate
Function: Verb
Date: 15th century

1. To tear or wear off the skin of; abrade.
2. To censure strongly; denounce

The way that the word was used was on the radio tonight was the second definition.

#12 on my list, Learn 30 new words (#4)

Vi·tu·per·a·tion

Pronunciation: (vahy-too-puh-rey-shuhn)
Function: Noun
Date: 15th century

1. The act or an instance of vituperating; abusive censure.

2. Sustained, harshly abusive language; invective.

I read this word in another blog that I read and of course I don't know it so it has to count for my list:)

#12 on my list, Learn 30 new words (#3)

I've been very lax in the education of my vocabulary, but I heard a new word today and I really like it.

Pro⋅pin⋅qui⋅ty 
Pronunciation [proh-ping-kwi-tee]
Function - noun
Etymology - Middle English propinquite, from Latin propinquitat-, propinquitas kinship, proximity, from propinquus near, akin, from prope near

Definitions:
1.nearness in place; proximity.
2.nearness of relation; kinship.
3.affinity of nature; similarity.
4.nearness in time.

I'm definitely gonna have to find a way to introduce it into a sentence.

#12 on my list, Learn 30 new words (#2)

I was cruising through blogs, wanting to see what was going on with people who are associated with other friends of mine, and I clicked on the blog of Rachel Hammet. Behold she has a list of words on her blog that she likes. Some of them I had never heard of, but there was one I liked in particular so I looked it up. It was Sapience.

Here is what it means:

Sapience (or Sapient)
SA'PIENCE, n. [L. sapientia, from sapio, to taste, to know.]
Wisdom; sageness; knowledge.

Thanks Rachel, for giving me a new word.

And the winning word is. . .

I am a big fan of words. In Jr. High I was on the spelling team, I had no particular dream of getting to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, but as far as competitions go this is one of my faves to watch. I was really rooting for this girl from CA. It was her 5th time at the competition and the last year that she was eligable to compete. Alas though she came in 3rd, which is not bad at all considering she beat out 285 other kids to get there, and that there were 11 million throughout the US total vying for the title.

The winner was Sameer, a 13 yr old boy. The winning word was an appropriate one:

Guerdon: something that one has earned or gained, a reward or recompense for ones actions.

Sameer was defintely rewarded for his hard work and study tonight, earning the respect of thousands around the world that care about words and how they are used.

This is also the first word of the 30 that I want to learn on my list. It's item number 12 on it by the way.