Probably one of my biggest faults is that I like to talk without thinking. Not that I’m constantly sticking my foot in my mouth, but I do end up having to explain what I meant often enough that I know I could be better at this. And, at the risk of asking another question with the “Sunday School Answer,”

Who’s the best model to follow in this case?

Obviously, Jesus, who cautioned us, “Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16)

I was reading in the gospels today of the various traps the teachers of the law tried to lay for Christ. “Where does your authority come from?” “Should we pay taxes to Caesar?” His replies were always smooth, calculated, and shrewd. They could not goad Him into sin, they could not even trap him into saying things that, while true, would have been harmful to say. Oh, if we could all be more like that, patiently contemplating our replies, careful to think before speaking. The world would be a much better place.

The old maxim is oh-so-relevant:

If you your lips would keep from slips,
Five things observe with care:
To whom you speak, of whom you speak,
And how, and when, and where.