Are You Sure You Want to Hit "Send?"

Sometimes you have to stop yourself from hitting the "send" button when you write things that will be seen on the Internet. Last week I was feeling overwhelmed and defeated and looking for someone to join my in a pity party. For some reason I thought Facebook was the place to post the emotions that were flowing through me. I was quite eloquent and self-righteous at the same time. Then I read what I wrote for a third time and then I realize just exactly where this was going to be read. I immediately hit the delete button. There is a time and place for everything, this was neither. I'm glad I didn't hit "send." In the days that followed my near meltdown I had some new insights into the situation that was about to send me over the edge. These insights were hidden by my anger and frustration. Sometimes anger and frustration blind us to what needs to be seen and understood. Hitting the send button would not have improved the situation...and could have made it much worse.

In Matthew 15 Jesus tells a crowd of people, "It's not what goes into the mouth that contaminates a person in God's sight. It's what comes out of the mouth that contaminates the person." He goes on to say a little later, "Don't you know that everything that goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? But what goes out of the mouth comes from the heart. And that's what contaminates a person in God's sight."

What comes out of our mouths not only contaminates the person, but it can also damage those to whom words are directed and even the innocent who are part of the collateral damage done. We have the ability to damage ourselves and so many others when our mouths go unchecked. Before we speak we need to make sure whether or not we want to hit the "send" button. We may not want to, but quite often the better button to his is "delete."