Verse of the Day for August 8

When we are confused, we usually reach for more words. We talk it through, then talk it through again, and the phone call becomes an hour, and we feel no clearer at the end.

In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. Proverbs is not against conversation. It is against volume. The more we say, the more room there is for exaggeration, for blame, for the half truth that slips out because we were tired of listening to ourselves.

The verse before names two ways words go wrong: hiding hatred behind polite lips, and spreading slander. Both happen most easily when we are talking a lot and thinking little.

Then comes the image: The tongue of the just is as choice silver. Choice silver has been refined. The dross has been burned off. A just person's words are fewer because they have been through the fire first.

If you need clarity about something, try subtraction. Before you ring a third friend, sit on the edge of the bed and write down in three sentences what is actually true. Say those to God. Clarity often comes not from saying more but from saying less, and saying it to him.

Refined silver is mostly a matter of what was taken away.

Say less today, and mean all of it.