A Little Birdie Told Me

Ever wonder where certain expressions came from? The expression "a little birdie told me" comes from Ecclesiastes 10:20 and it says "Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter". I find the Scriptures to be very timely even in our high tech world. The wisest man in the world, Solomon who wrote Ecclesiastes could not have foreseen the social media crazed world that we live in today. Yet this verse is more relevant today than it ever was.

The point is that what you say seemingly in private will come back to haunt you in public. Does this ring true with today's presidential candidates? Both candidates have said something whether in text form or speaking that they never expected would be public and yet they were. Digital assets record just about anything that comes out of our mouth or through our fingertips. We are just a notch below a creator God who knows everything that we are thinking even if we don't say it. The cure for the "little birdie issue" is not to not say it but to examine our own attitudes and beliefs.

As an example, this past week our Indians were in the World Series against the Cubs. My wife is from the Chicago area, I went to college near Chicago, our daughter lives in Chicago with rabid Cubs fans as friends and family. Both Deb and I ourselves are Cubs fans. I went to a number of Cubs games when I was in school. So we found ourselves engaged in a little "smack talk". But it was very good natured and when the Cubs pulled it out, we were happy for our friends. There was no bitterness involved. When Lebron James went to Miami, I found myself bitterly rooting against the Miami Heat. It did not feel healthy and it lasted for one season. Bitterness towards others is never healthy.

Getting at the root is the first step. Self-examination is a theme rooted throughout the Bible. Jesus said to look at the log in our own eye before examining the speck in someone else's eye. When we do this, we are less prone to want to say or do something that a little birdie will carry out to others.