Me? Quiet? I mean, Once Upon a Time…

To begin with, you have to know that I’m not an early morning person. I’m certainly a morning person, but not an early morning person, and there’s a big difference between the two. That said, I belong to a Bible study group that meets on Thursday mornings at 6:30 am.

6:30 AM

In order to wake up, get a few cups of coffee in me, do a word puzzle or two to get the juices flowing, shower, and then drive the 15 minutes, I need to wake up at the latest by 5 am. This particular morning it was 4:30 am. I woke up, like 54 year old men often do, needing to pee, and since it was already 4:30 I figured I might as well just get up and start the process. It was a very early start to the day. I’m not a raccoon scurrying about in the dark all giddy looking for adventure. I’m a bear, and bears hibernate when they’re supposed to. Ha! Anyway…

These 6:30 am meetings aren’t just lighthearted affairs and chit chat stuff. Nah. It gets really deep really fast. For me, that kinda thing is better saved for say past 11 am, but it is what it is, and I like the group a lot and that’s when the crazy sons of guns meet. What can I do? Now you know the context….

I was taken aback at the meeting this morning when about 3/4th’s into the discussion our group leader called me out for being “quiet” today. “Say what?” Man, I can’t remember the last time someone called me out for being quiet. It’s a super rare event. It wasn’t always that way and I’ll get to that in just a second. But nowadays, I mentally have to force myself to say less because if I didn’t I would never shut up. In fact, in that meeting this morning, I had an entire lecture on the topic that I was building in my head. Like, I could’ve rambled on for a good 10-15 minutes just on what I had constructed by the time he said that. I was literally forcing myself not to talk. Lol. It’s a pretty big group and we don’t have time for Gary’s to go on long lectures, even if it would’ve been interesting. So that, along with the aforementioned 4:30 wake up, was the reason I was “quiet.” But once upon a time…

They couldn’t get me hardly to say a word. About the only person I’d really talk to was my mom, and besides her, a girl I knew from birth to about 6 years old, Laurie Newsome. I talked to them, a lot, but few others. It used to drive my teachers crazy. From Kindergarten all the way through High School, my mom would each year get notes from teachers saying this about me:

“Gary is well-mannered and kind. BUT, he’s very quiet. I can’t get him to talk.”

Boy, has that ever changed! I am forever trying to explain to my wife and two daughters that at my essence I’m actually extremely shy. They don’t buy a single word of it, because they see the me that talks to pretty much everyone. The people in the elevator, the waitress, the cashier, the person standing in line waiting for the cashier…I mean, I chat up people all the time and that’s the me they know. They’ve never seen that other person.

The first time I had a sleepover with a friend that would wind up being one of my lifelong best friends I was in 4th grade, and I was terrified to go because I had no clue what I could possibly have to say to that person for that many hours. I think God put him in my life for that exact reason, because he wasn’t that way – at all – and was outgoing and popular, and for whatever reason, he just saw something in me and we got along great. We were close as two peas in pod from that moment all the way through graduation. My childhood would have likely been far more boring if we had never become friends, and I wouldn’t be the chatterbox that I am now without him coaxing me out of my protective shell. That kid in the picture up there was that really quiet, well-mannered, polite kid.

I’m still well-mannered, polite and kind (most of the time), but with the exception of this morning, it’s rare for someone to say that I’m quiet. Felt good to hear! Like an old buddy came back to visit me or something 🙂

Scripture has a lot to say about the wisdom of holding our tongues, and I absorb that wisdom on the regular. I’ve become quite adept at keeping my political thoughts to myself, and I do not engage in public debates and forums that are contentious. I steer clear, which is a skill I learned the hard way by – not – steering clear. I save my words for encouragement, or humor, or regular talk with family and friends, for here and my other online endeavors, and for of course, nocturnal Bible studies.

Do you talk too much? Take this wisdom and consider it, and I will have come to an actual point of writing this post if you do….

Proverbs 17: 27-28…The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered. Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.

Have a great rest of your day 🙂

Gary