“Trying to keep my mouth shut,” answered a centenarian, when he was asked, “What’s an important lesson you have learned in your lifetime?”

Reading that brought again Isaiah 30:15 to my mind, a verse in the Bible, I have known for many, many years. There it says, “‘…, in quietness and trust is your strength, …'”

“Reden ist Silber, Schweigen ist Gold,” (Speaking is silver and being quite is gold.) we say in German.

And here is more what the Bible teaches on the subject: The Bible has a lot to says about our lips, our tongue, silence and idle talk.

In Psalm 141:3 David prays, “Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.”

There is more in the Bible about guarding our lips and speaking rashly. Listen to what it says in Proverbs 13:3, “He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.”

And here is how we can keep ourselves from calamity, “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity,” it says in Proverbs 21:23.

And this is what we must also do in order to “love life” and “see good days,” we must keep our tongue from evil and our lips from deceitful speech. Please read 1 Peter 3:10-12.

Who else is trying to keep his mouth shut?

And here is how the centenarian continues his answer to the question at the beginning, “Not to be too critical of people who do things differently. Accept that just you wouldn’t have done it that way, it doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”