It is hard to keep water in without a dike. But it is harder still to hold in one’s tongue.
Interesting that as John Climacus takes us further along the Ladder of Divine Ascent, the more he probes deeper into our hearts, our vices, our inner drives.
Sometimes I scan Facebook and Twitter. These are places where we feel free to be talkative without inhibition. I see the most revealing things about the state of many people’s hearts. That state is not always good.
John says talkativeness is the throne of vainglory “on which it loves to preen itself.”
We have all said things that we wished immediately after that we had not said. But many people seem clueless about how the things they say reveal the hardness of their hearts.
On the other hand, John says “intelligent silence is the mother of prayer, freedom from bondage.”
For the man who recognizes his sins has taken control over his tongue, while the chatterer has yet to discover himself as he should.
“Better to fall from a height to the ground than to slip with the tongue.” That also applies to what you say on social media–perhaps more so since you reach so many more people.
Faith Venture 
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