TWEETS

A treetop chorus greeted me one day when I went out to get the mail. The row of tall evergreens behind our house provided the perches for a whole choir of “tweeters,” cheerfully expressing their happiness (I assume!). My “to-do” list that day included grocery shopping. I thought how the birds don’t need to bother with such errands. Though they have to hunt for food, God supplies. That includes the local crows, who grab walnuts from a nearby tree and drop them on the street to break them open!

The internet has opened up a whole new way to communicate instantly. The birds, naturally, reminded me of the “Twitter” and “tweets” phenomenon. Also called “micro-blogging,” it’s a social network service that allows you to express yourself in 280 characters or less. The White House “tweets”! But don’t try to “tweet” me. I’m not in that “system.” Plus, I favor thinking through my words and asking if they will hurt or harm. Proverbs 25:9 adds: “He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend.”

Several years ago I was emotionally wounded by someone who felt they should “speak their mind” and sent me pages-long communications (definitely not “tweets”) that distorted events and words from long years earlier. Eventually, that person admitted to having a problem with a bitter spirit. I think that was after I shared the acrostic guideline “THINK” for God-honoring communication. Before writing or speaking, ask, is it...
TRUE?
HELPFUL?
INSPIRATIONAL?
NECESSARY?
KIND?
I wonder if some of our problems with the tongue (or the keyboarding/’twittering’ fingers) go back to violating this principle. We forget Who we represent and just speak our minds. We forget our dependence on the Creator, of Whom those singing birds regularly remind us:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you much more valuable than they? (Matthew 6:26)

Those feathered friends “twittering” in the treetops behind my home spoke a language I can’t understand. But I can accept the truth that they depend on the Creator for their very next meal. And although I don’t talk “bird language” (which is another area of scientific exploration by itself) I do understand the need to train myself to speak (or write) as though God was listening in.

Because He is.