Speaking or Leaking

Have you ever experienced water damage on good furniture, or walked into a flood in your own bathroom or kitchen only to find that one of the pipes was leaking?

I experienced that within the last couple days, only it was in my van. My wife had noticed that the carpet on the front passenger's side was soaked in water, but the windows weren't down and it hadn't even been raining. This puzzled us.

I eventually had to start disassembling the interior of the van, pulling up the carpet to find out from where the water was coming. Turns out an interior hose related to the AC system running along the floorboard had a leak. What a MESS!!! The underlayment was drenched. I wrung out nearly a half a gallon of water.

I can tend to love water at one moment and hate it at the next. When it's downloading from the shower head to run dirt off my back and hands I love it. When it's flowing from a fountain to extinguish my thirst, I adore it. When it's being used to wash dishes I'm so cool with it (as long as I'm not the one who washing). However, when water is leaking, I can't stand it. It's damaging. It stains rather than cleans, it annoys rather than refreshes, it creates work rather than aids the work. Can you relate?

That’s the vast difference between a stream of water turned on for a purpose and channeled to specific location to serve a task, and water being dumped just because an opening was found in its path.

I can't help but draw the comparison between water and our words. When spoken intentionally and directed at the right audience at the right time, words can refresh, heal, and edify. However, when we carelessly let thoughtless words fall out of our mouth just because there is a hole underneath our nose we can create a lot of damage.

I’ve been known for sticking my foot in my mouth and sometimes I wish that it would just stay there to clog up the leak. I've learned the hard way that many times it's better to say nothing than to speak just for the sake of it. I want to be speaking not leaking. I wish the same for you.

Use your words to channel a positive energy into the lives of people. Let it not cause floods and damage that only needs to be cleaned up later.

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I would love to hear your comments.