3.4-My fire alarm.

 3.4-My fire alarm.

It has a problem. It is new and yet is not functioning exactly right. It chirps when there is no fire. It might be the power, but it is connected to the power of the house. It might be the back up battery is low, but that shouldn’t be because it is almost new. It has gone off at about 4 or 5 am for the last few days. This causes a variety of sleeping problems for us and we have a way of resetting it, but that seems to last only for 24 hours.

There are noises it makes when I think it should be quiet.

This reminds me of some teaching I have received since I was old enough to hear and remember what teachers have said to me.

Larry, you need to not talk so much. I was called loquacious Larry by one teacher. I asked her what it meant and she said that I needed to go look it up.

About 3,000 years ago a wise man wrote words that went something like this, “Better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you are fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

2,000 year ago a man wrote, “Be quick to listen and slow to speak.”

My fire alarm is going to eventually be fixed from its problem of making noise at the wrong time. It may be nothing wrong with it but the problem is with the operator, me.

The question is if I can learn the lesson myself to not speak when I should not. To control my noise. To not give any false warnings, but warn people only when there is a proper need to warn. When we control our tongues then the words that we do say can be words that build people up and help them to be all they can be.

Lord help me not to be a noisy, irritating person

James 1.

26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not [z]bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained [aa]by the world.