On Finding the Right Words

Ecclesiastes 12:10 New International Version (NIV)

10 The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

I've been playing Scrabble on my iPad this past week with the computer as my opponent.  I have mixed feelings about it's built-in humility feature.  First I'll play my word then the computer will tell me how I could have done better.  Or it will say, "That's hard to beat!" and go on to beat it.  Sigh.  I suppose it's better to be annoyed with the computer than my husband, my usual partner.  I liked this picture of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower playing Scrabble.  She's probably the only one who could tell the leader of the free world he could have done better then go on to outplay him.  

In my daily life, outside of Scrabble, I'm often thinking about how I could have done better or, probably worse, how someone else could have done better.  It's good and right to leave some thoughts unsaid.  My parents had a little plaque with a poem hung in my childhood house.  It said, "The head of this house is Jesus.  He knows each heart and mind.  So when you speak, be sure your words are true and pure and kind."  

Amen, Mom and Dad, Amen.