To live will be an awfully big adventure.

Talk

I am guilty.
Guilty of talking too much when I should be still.
Guilty of worrying and discussing and gossiping.
When there's a problem in my life – be it large or not – I talk through it. On and on and on through it until I've talked myself in circles and still don't know my mind. And I am not the only one.

My type likes to talk things through. There is a type of people, so I hear,  who can somehow exist while not sharing their hearts hourly with those close to them. They just think through their problems. Just think! I couldn't do it. I have to talk. It's my reliever, my relaxer, my way of getting through the day.
There comes a time, though, when my words start spinning on themselves and I'm sick of talking. At the end of the day when I know I've said too much. At the end of the night when I realized I was too tired to be sharing my heart because my heart started bleeding out on the ground and no one in the room really wanted to see it.

At the end of the day, really, when I was too focused on me,
when I was too engulfed in talking through my life,
and I forgot to stop and listen to someone else's.

But more than that, I didn't do anything with all the words I threw out there in the atmosphere. They came up somewhere in my heart, and ran a little race to my brain, and came out, sometimes neatly and sometimes not so neatly, from my mouth: and then there they were. Out in the air, falling on someone's ears who can't do a thing to change my problems, or the problems of the person I'm talking about, or the problems of the world in general, and I'm guilty.

Guilty of talking too much.

I always liked the old words in the hymn. You know, Joseph M. Scriven was a very wise fellow when he said, “Take it to the Lord in prayer.” He didn't just mean those heart-stopping incidents when you fall on your knees in desperation and beg for someone's life. He didn't just mean the one night out of the school year when you're so overwhelmed that being in a coma sounds very relaxing. He meant all the time.
Any time.
And so did God.

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I can talk until I'm blue in the face and nothing will change in my life or in anyone else's. I can talk to God until I'm blue in the face, though, and He can move mountains. My words aren't falling on deaf ears then. He wants to see me daily take my heart out and let it bleed out on Him.

I spend a lot of time talking. A lot of time trying to figure out verbally what is going on. And there is nothing wrong with talking; all things in moderation. God gives every one a unique way to travel through life, and some of us just have to be really verbal about the whole thing. There is a beauty and freedom in being who we were created to be! Just imagine if the whole world was a bunch of non-talkative introverts.
Life would be boring.
But I was reminded of something this summer, after a friend and I had talked and talked and talked through a situation with no results. She reminded me that talking won't solve anything. It can clear our heads a bit and organize our thoughts into a concise order, but it won't change anything.

So we took it to the Lord in the prayer. And it relaxed our worries and released us from thinking that we had to figure it all out on our own.

And maybe, when you know you've spilled out as much as can be physically spilled, and you still can't make head or tail of your life, maybe take comfort in the fact that you won't figure it out all the way and you won't solve it all. And that talking might be your way of coping, but it's all about who you're talking to.

I'm all for talking, don't misunderstand me. Ask my sister and she will tell you of the many nights I've kept her awake. But, sometimes, I just know that it's not going to get me anywhere,
and I've just talked too much.

. ...For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. (Matthew 6:8)