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HEALTHY LIFESTYLE · OCTOBER 2017<br />
DELETE!<br />
DELETE!<br />
DELETE!<br />
The little boy was in a particularly bad mood<br />
that day. He had been having a hard time<br />
getting along with the other children at<br />
kindergarten. Then, when his teacher had <strong>to</strong><br />
correct him for something he was doing, he<br />
looked up at her and said, “I can do it if I want<br />
<strong>to</strong>!”<br />
From the look that came over her face, he<br />
knew he had stepped over the line. He was<br />
in trouble and knew it immediately. So he<br />
smiled up at her, moved his pointer finger<br />
with a clicking motion, and said, “Delete!<br />
Delete! Delete!”<br />
Haven’t we all wished for the delete key<br />
after saying something we knew immediately<br />
should have been left unsaid? Looks like<br />
Google Mail is going <strong>to</strong> give its users<br />
something of that option in its popular email<br />
program.<br />
One magazine calls it the “holy grail of all<br />
email functions.” <strong>New</strong> this summer, those of<br />
us who use Gmail have the option that just<br />
might have saved our young kindergarten<br />
friend a session in Time Out! To activate it,<br />
open the app and look in the upper righthand<br />
corner for the little gear icon. Click it,<br />
then go <strong>to</strong> Settings and scroll down <strong>to</strong> Undo<br />
Send. Click Enable. Voila! You will henceforth<br />
have the option <strong>to</strong> recall any email – up <strong>to</strong> a<br />
maximum of 30 seconds after you hit “Send.”<br />
I’ve set mine already. My chief fear is that<br />
the 30-second maximum may not give me<br />
enough time <strong>to</strong> come <strong>to</strong> my senses in some<br />
cases.<br />
How about you? Can you recall a time with<br />
a family member or co-worker when being<br />
quick <strong>to</strong> shoot from the lip got you in<strong>to</strong><br />
trouble? Do you think of a friend from whom<br />
you are now alienated because of hitting<br />
“Send” with your <strong>to</strong>ngue just a bit <strong>to</strong>o hastily?<br />
Some of those hair-triggered comebacks<br />
sounded awfully cute at the time – but<br />
proved <strong>to</strong> have deadly consequences for a<br />
relationship that still should be functional.<br />
But there was no “Undo Send” but<strong>to</strong>n.<br />
All of us know the danger of out-of-control<br />
<strong>to</strong>ngues. We know that gossip, falsehoods,<br />
and angry re<strong>to</strong>rts do so much harm. Yet we<br />
keep hitting the Send key and have <strong>to</strong> reap<br />
the bitter consequences of our actions.<br />
As you start a fresh week with your family<br />
and at work, pray for the self-control that<br />
the Holy Spirit gives. Ask for the humility <strong>to</strong><br />
respond <strong>to</strong> the warning signals that both the<br />
Spirit and your own better impulses send in<br />
stressful times. Try <strong>to</strong> hold back the venom<br />
that a sharp <strong>to</strong>ngue can emit.<br />
“WHEN WORDS<br />
ARE MANY,<br />
TRANSGRESSION<br />
IS NOT LACKING,<br />
BUT THE PRUDENT<br />
ARE RESTRAINED IN<br />
SPEECH”<br />
(PROVERBS 10:19 NRSV).<br />
Or, if I may dare <strong>to</strong> paraphrase: “Hitting<br />
‘Send’ <strong>to</strong>o quickly is sure <strong>to</strong> stir up trouble,<br />
when ‘Delete! Delete! Delete!’ is often your<br />
wiser choice.”<br />
By Rubel Shelly<br />
8 HEALTHY MAGAZINE