Thankful for Filters

There are some days that I wish that I could just speak my mind. I see something going on, and I wish that I could just be blunt about it. For those of you who know me, you are probably thinking, "You mean she is holding back? Scary." Of course you are probably also the ones that I feel comfortable enough to share my opinion with all of the time because I know that you won't take it the wrong way. I am known for speaking my mind, but over the past few years, I have tried to be more conscious about being careful when I speak it (or refraining from speaking it). Yet I still want to speak my mind. I think it is something that I will always struggle with, in part because I think that if I could just impart my wisdom into the situation then everything will be fixed. I have come to realize that speaking the mind is a pride issue for me. It is me making it clear that I feel like I have all of the answers or at least have looked at the symptoms long enough to know that there is a situation that needs to be fixed. Also, it is me making it evident to those around me that I have enough spiritual knowledge or awareness to know what is right or wrong. Pride is ugly, especially when it comes out when speaking truth or attempting to speak truth.

I need more filters in my speech. I am thankful for the filters that I have right now. There are some situations where speaking the truth would be hurtful or counterproductive. There are some situations where speaking the truth would be misinterpreted. There are some situations where speaking the truth is my sinful attempt to justify telling someone off (and may not be as truthful as I convince myself that it is). Finally, there are friendships where I can have filter free speech without problems, and I am thankful for those friends who stick around despite all of the sinfulness. I think that some of them are amused when I enter into filter free speech, and that is part of the benefit of being my friend. However, I really need to work on having appropriate filters all the time, which will require me to work on the inside as much as the outside. Starting with speech is a good place to start though!