Pardon my OCD a moment please. Sometimes I get intrigued (my chain gets pulled) by words and/or phrases I hear or read. The phrase in question “Shut your mouth your mind is hanging out” was spoken by one cowboy to another in a movie my husband was watching yesterday evening and I, by consequence, was hearing. The movie was ‘Gun Glory’ with Stewart Granger 1957. I am very good at tuning out all the background noises while I indulge in my own activities and don’t know why those words came through my brain wall, loud and clear.  I couldn’t say much about the movie, except at one point they were in church singing ‘When The Roll is Called Up Yonder”.

The phrase tickled me so much, that I had to write it down real quick, so I wouldn’t forget before morning. Come morning I wanted to make a clever and intriguing Facebook post. I didn’t know the name of the movie and used the phrase to search the WWW. In the end, my husband was the perfect source for that trivia. The search wasn’t a wasted effort as other things came up. My memory was jogged to remember lessons from the past, things learned but not used very often, perhaps. Nearly everyone has heard from their parents, grandparents or a teacher… “If you can’t say anything nice, say nothing at all” or “don’t tell anyone to shut up that’s impolite, if you must, say hush or be quiet, please”, add to that, “Silence is Golden”. I and my parents and grandparents, as children were taught, in mixed company, we were to be seen and not heard. Speak only when spoken to was another rule. Mark Twain stated “It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it and remove all doubt.”

Many today espouse ‘Freedom of Speech’ and practice the same vigorously. Yours truly included. Listening and silence have become lost arts.  There is power in using silence as a response to ridiculousness. Sometimes facial expressions, much like a picture, can be more effective than a thousand words. Some of my favorite current day expressions to let someone know their voice is unwanted or unnecessary include “Shut the front door” or “Shut your pie hole” along with “Yada yada yada”. In today’s political and public atmosphere, there is a lot of speaking going on with very little value other than that of ‘Self Service”. There aren’t many adhering to speaking niceties or keeping quiet. Using silence and listening as tools to operate socially with other human beings.

My search found a some interesting articles. One provides a very long list of how to tell someone to “Butt Out” and the other is an excellent tutorial on maintaining silence and speaking appropriately at work, home or publicly. The best I found came from the ‘Bible’, and I share my favorites.

James 3:2   We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.

Psalm 141:3  Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.

Proverbs 12:13  An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, But the righteous will escape from trouble.

Proverbs 13:3  The one who guards his mouth preserves his life; The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

Proverbs 18:21  Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

James 1:26  Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.

My intention was not to bring about a sermon, but, sometimes what grabs me at strange moments, I take as lessons, as things I need to learn or remember. So now, maybe, for today, I can practice what I preach.

It you please, these are links to the websites I mentioned.

Keep Your Mouth Shut      Many Ways to Say ‘Shut Up’     Relative Bible Verses