Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday December 8, 2011

The other evening as I was attempting to write a daily, I kept hearing a raucous voice coming from the family room and upon investigation discovered the wife of my youth getting invigorated via the Bill O'Reilly Show. My mind being of a higher order I found myself thinking of Samuel Johnson who commented concerning the Irish with this gem of praise, "The Irish are a fair people, they never speak well of one another."

When I uttered the above and the Great Blonde heard what she took to be denigration of the Wonder of the Emerald Isle I was thankful we do not have a shillelagh. The girl is my Wild Irish Rose with the emphasis on wild. After all, Mr. O'Reilly is trying save our country. To settle the air I muttered, "Perhaps he is God's man" to which I was treated, "Honey, there's no doubt about it." She became absorbed in Mr. O'Reilly asking a guest a question and then jumping in and answering the question himself. He is good at such things. I was able to slither back into my cubical and offer words of wisdom and encouragement to myriads who don't know much about me. At least that's what she said.

I hadn't thought of Samuel Johnson or his pithy saying about the Irish for years, except for a tid bit in some article about the language. As I rethought the statement it dawned on me that I know several people, a few of them for half a century and one in particular whom I have never heard say a kind word to or about another. From the way his last name is spelled and sounds I doubt that he has an ounce of Irish blood, but he may have caught the habit in some of the haunts of his younger days.

Learning the discipline of speaking well of another is surprisingly enough a biblical discipline and one that should be zealously striven for. This is especially true if you're thinking about saying anything at all about me. The Apostle Paul while not Irish was known to be super caustic in his description of certain others. Yet even he understood the value to the speaker’s spiritual health to force himself to become, over time, a good finder. Read his words in Philippians 4:8:

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

In the fields of truth, honesty, justice, purity, and lovely (Wild Irish Rose) things of good report and perhaps just a wee bit of virtue or something at all to praise, focus on these things. Why? According to the context given by Paul this must be practiced in order for the peace of God to be with you. The negativity that has infected our culture in the last quarter century is eating like a moth at the fiber of our national character. We must reintegrate the concept of speaking well of one another where at all possible.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2011 Use with credit

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