Stir The Pot Wisely

A soft answer turneth away wrath:  but grievous words stir up anger."  Proverbs 15:1

How many times have we gotten into arguments with loved ones and wondered how that ever happen.  Many times the culprit is how we say what we say.  God doesn't say in this verse not to speak, He said it is how we speak that stirs the pot.  The Bible is filled with wisdom on how to speak.  God mentions in His Word  the following on the subject:  the words of a righteous man, the words of fools, words fitly spoken,  words seasoned with salt, etc.  There are too many to mention, but the point is this - you do have a responsibility on how you speak not just what you speak.  We like to say, "well, I just told them the truth, if they don't like it to bad,"  but then wonder why people don't like you.  There is such a thing as speaking the truth in love.  The point of telling someone the truth about themselves is to help them not to hurt them, and it's hard to help someone who won't listen to you because they know your words are seemingly wrought with hatred.  You don't help someone by kicking them down.  There is a difference between you telling your wife:  "I like the way the black dress looks on you vs. that red one" and you saying, "the red one makes you like the 'hey koolade' guy."  The statement may be true but that is not the wisest aproach to take.  There is a reason why God uses the word "Stir"; it is a verb and therefore an action you can choose to do or not do.  Why not choose wisely today?