Did you ever just blurt out something you were thinking, not intending for anyone else to hear it? The moment it happened, you felt embarrassed, your face turned pink, and you wondered where you could go to hide. Somehow the words just came out and they seemed to hang in the air like a giant billboard. Yipes!
Mark Twain wrote that, “Man is the only animal who blushes. Or needs to.” Keeping tabs on our thoughts and putting a bridle on our tongues is not always easy. We’re emotional beings and that can cause us to speak foolishly, or at least thoughtlessly. Though you may wish you could take back the embarrassing things you said, you don’t have to run away. You give yourself a moment to recover and remember that there’s only one step to take after you say the wrong thing. You have to say the right thing. The right thing always starts with you, with a willingness to own your mistake. Apologies and explanations may be next, or acknowledging how awkward you feel may bring relief, but here’s the point.
When those pink-cheeked moments happen, they are human and forgivable. Perhaps those slip-ups should actually remind us we do have things to be embarrassed about. We may blush about the things we have chosen to ignore, even though God has nudged us a number of times to deal with them. Those would be things like keeping promises, praying more, and being kinder to our friends and family. We may be unhappy that we haven’t changed a bad habit or we haven’t thanked our spouse for being there for us, or given God credit for all He does. Our list of reasons to feel somewhat foolish is probably ongoing and lengthy. So what do we do?
We pray for more self-control and to have a more generous spirit. We pray to speak with love, or to know when to lovingly keep silent. We align our hearts and minds with the One who knows every embarrassing thing we’ve ever done, and Who keeps loving us anyway.
We probably won’t be able to stop blushing over our own foolishness, but we can forgive ourselves and try harder to say the right things. As it says in Proverbs 17:28, “Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.”
Oops! Did I say that out loud?
Here I go begging forgiveness with bright pink cheeks.