Battle Lines: Sandy Keys
Recently, I was handling a tape dispenser that was left over from the Bramwell Booth era. The glue that held the bottom finally gave way allowing the sand that filled it to spill all over the place. It’s amazing how much sand can leak out in a matter of seconds. Even at my age, I acted swiftly and in one deft move turned the dispenser over and slapped a couple of pieces of tape on the bottom, thus stopping the flow. “Where were the cell phone cameras to record that?” I asked.
But some sand had indeed escaped onto my desk and chair, with a few grains landing on my computer keyboard. My hands were a blur as I turned the keyboard over, knocking the sand off with amazing speed. Sand was soon banished from my desk and chair, and I thought a crisis was averted. Not so.
As I started to work, I noticed that I could not capitalize my letters. And the “m” and “o” keys didn’t seem to be working. All the other keys were just fine, but you would be amazed how often you use those other three keys. No amount of turning my keyboard over, banging on it from the reverse side, blowing on the keys, or doing a dance or incantation could dislodge those bits of sand. My keyboard was toast. It was downright irritating how such little things could cause so much trouble.
I started to think about how little things had caused me trouble over the years, how things had gotten stuck in places and caused damage. There have been times I have said things to people, and though I tried to do what I could to clean them up by explaining or even apologizing, some of those words unfortunately got stuck in some vulnerable places. They ended up in places where I couldn’t recover them or fix them. I have gone back to a few people and apologized again, and although they might have been kind about it, I sensed that the hurt had stuck. I know there are also other words I have said, damage done, and I am never to recognize the wounds left behind.
As I have gotten older and have tried to share a little of what I have learned, one of the things I have said to my kids, grandkids, and anyone else who would listen, is that there is no excuse for being cruel. Sometimes we have to say things that hurt people; we do them no favors if we fail to confront them about wrong behaviors. But we needn’t be insulting or demeaning.
Paul reminds us, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29).
Better to be surgical in what we say than to try digging out those misplaced grains of sand.