SHURU

Well hello there dear gist partner. 

How are you doing today? It is my hope that you’re doing fine and that you continue to feel God’s presence in all that you do. 

Welcome to today’s gist. 

Have you ever been talking to someone and then in the midst of the gist, you say something and you’re like “wetin make me talk am??!!” Or in the heat of conversation and the accompanying emotions, you rope yourself into something that becomes hard to get out of, say a promise or a dare, and you’re just like “why I no shut up sef? Wetin carry me come here?”  I’ve been there before, so know that you’re not alone. 

Yesterday, I saw something in Proverbs that I thought to share, chapter 21:23 says: “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.” (ESV) As I read this, what came to my mind was the under-hyped importance of silence. Too often, we find ourselves feeling the need to always keep communication going when we’re with people, so we talk. 

And talk some more. 

And keep on talking. 

Then, before you know it, you don carry yourself reach where you sef no know and you’re wondering “how we take reach here?” 

But silence is not a bad thing is it? Silence is an opportunity to enjoy quiet. Silence also, usually, ushers calm. 

But talkativeness leads to over-sharing and that in most cases will land you in trouble. It is important to learn the need to keep private things private, to learn when to stop talking, to remember that there are certain things that are not meant to be revealed. I was watching an interview between Dr Foy and Pastor Lawrence Oyor and there is something that Lawrence Oyor said that caught my attention; he said that there are certain things that have been spoilt because people spoke of them too quickly. And that’s true. Sometimes God is doing a work in your life and instead of you to focus on it, you’re trying to involve everyone else into what is supposed to be private business between you and God. Meanwhile, it was supposed to be something to keep quiet about until e mature but you don go call everybody come you and God private matter. And usually, the more people get involved, the more opinions get included in the matter and soon you find yourself shifting ground from what you and God agreed upon to something else because the people you have involved said this new position seems like the best way. And of course, the way that ‘seems’ right na destruction e dey end. 

You can’t even hear God well if you’re too loud and always talking. The Chaplain in my secondary school would always tell us that prayer is a two-way communication; you talk to God and God talks back to you. He said, and I agree with him, that every time you come to God in prayer, He always speaks back to you.  But too often, once we’ve had our say, we leave without letting God have His own say. And you know God is a Gentleman, He won’t be shouting over the top of your head. Does He want to speak? Yes. But will He force you to hear Him? No. You will have to be willing to listen to Him and you definitely cannot be listening to Him if you’re always talking, you’ll need to be quiet to hear Him when He speaks. You must learn to keep quiet so that you can hear what He’s saying to you. 

“Silence is golden” may be cliche but it is also true. There are things that you will learn in moments of silence that you will never find in noise. 

So, how do we now learn to keep quiet? The first thing I’ll say is become comfortable in silence. Learn that it is okay for everywhere to be quiet and nobody is talking. And when you’re speaking, learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit; when you get to the point that you’re about to share wetin no concern another person, He will tell you to keep quiet, immediately shut up and leave that matter. Also, release yourself from the need to prove anything to anybody or please everybody, you’re not the person responsible for that, no carry work wey no be your own.

Practice silence. And when you talk, talk only wetin dey necessary. 

May God help us to curb our tongues. 

TUNES AND THOUGHTS: our song recommendation for the week is ‘Find a Home’ by Ire Toluhi. My friend Salamatu just introduced me to Ire this week. This song soothes my spirit and my mind. It’s been on repeat since yesterday morning. I pray that as you listen to it, your heart is blessed and you remember that you’re home in God. 

Audiomack: https://audiomack.com/iretoluhi/song/find-a-home?share-user-id=140072136 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3WaEFlud38vIaWJhEKAZqt?si=uS6vKj0RSsyCssr3W7sfgg 

YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=o_iqD5w5kiY&si=2IiZB7lbux7sKMAg 

Well, that is that about that as far as that is concerned, see you next week. 

Love,

Achenyo.