What you say cannot be "unsaid"

John Sewel, a prominent Cadillac dealer in the Dallas area, is quoted as saying "You can shear a sheep for many years, but you can only skin it once."

We need to make wise decisions. Not all of them can be "undone".

I recall the story about the grandfather who was appalled by statements made by his grandson that had truly hurt someone. The boy simply did not understand why it was som important.

The grandfather gave a box of nails and a hammer to the grandson, then told him to go out to the back forty and hammer all of the nails into the wooden fence. When the boy was done, the grandfather told him to go out and take all of the nails out of the fence.

The grandson was frustrated, but did as he was told. When he was done, he went back to his grandfather and was told to look at the fence. The nails were gone, he pointed out, but the holes remained.

When we say something, we need to realize that the impact can oftern never be repaired.

Proverbs:
12:25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad.
15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
15:23 A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, And a word spoken in due season, how good it is!
25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver.

James 3:
3 Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.
4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.
5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.
8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.
10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.