Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.

“The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin.” Proverbs 10: 10

I hate getting in on the tail end of a discussion. You know what I mean. You walk up to a group of friends who are laughing and carrying on and dumbly say, “What? What’s so funny?”

After they get through laughing someone may be kind enough to say, “Oh it’s nothing. Just Joe being Joe.” Which really never explains anything. And really makes it worse.

Or, if they can’t explain what they’re laughing about someone will say, “You just had to be here.”

Or, worse yet, “I’m sorry. We just can’t tell you.”

Grrrrrr!

We all want to belong to a group. We all want to know what’s so funny. We all want to laugh and carry on and sometimes being Johnny Come Lately puts a crimp in our wants and needs.

Sometimes when we’re feeling really smart, we’ll try to start a new conversation with the group to make up for the one we missed. “Hey, did you hear about. . .” we eagerly say.

But it’s never the same and we usually make things worse and just look silly.

So why is that our first reaction? To just jump in and say something and make fools out of ourselves. Why can’t we just sometimes listen quietly and smile?

We too often try to jump into things like conversations that we know nothing about thinking that our pearls of wisdom will enlighten the discussion at hand. Here’s a novel notion. Today let’s just try to listen. Maybe we’ll come across as really wise. ...........

O. K.

That’s as quiet as I can be. Did you hear about. . . .

Let us pray.

O God, who gave manna in the wilderness long ago, who still provides for those who hunger and thirst today, we do as well as the things we think and feel, be acceptable and pleasing even to you. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Pastor Troy is the pastor of Malvern First United Methodist Church. You can read his daily devotionals on their Facebook page.