Archives | A Lesson From Addie

Ecclesiastes 3:7- "...a time to be silent and a time to speak."

Sometimes you need to get away from your normal circumstances in order to see things in someone that you are always around that you never saw before. One weekend, back in 2009, gave us a whole new look into Addie's personality at the time.

We had been able to take a trip to Disney for my birthday. As we would go on the different rides at Disney, she would only stare and take everything in. It wasn't until after we had moved on to the next thing that she would start squealing, giggling, and talking.

As we passed rides we had already ridden, like Dumbo, or the characters we had already taken pictures with, like Tigger, she would point and squeal with excitement. There were even times when she would just burst into giggles, and we had no idea why.

We discovered (actually, Brian figured it out first) that Addie was waiting to express her feelings until after she had seen and experienced an event. After it was over and she had had a moment to process everything, she finally expressed her feelings (this does not necessarily hold true today).

It was almost as if she was having a delayed reaction.

I see now that it wasn't. It is a well thought out response to a situation.

Once again, God taught me a lesson using my toddler. I need to hold my response to a situation until I have had a chance to process all of the information. As in the verse above, silence is first and then the chance to speak. God had a reason for putting certain words in the Bible in the order that He did.

Lord, help me to be silent, and then give me the words that I should speak.