Throughout the day, I record brief thoughts and impressions on my iPhone. I capture them for future use for writing or teaching. This morning, I went through 27 of those recordings and deleted them all. I deleted them because they sounded good at the moment, but taking a second listen, I realized they added nothing new or healing to the conversations of life.

A lot that we think is so important can be fueled at the moment by either our emotions, the lack of a fuller understanding of a particular subject, or our undisciplined anger. It would be wise for all of us to store those first impressions in the hands of the Lord without speaking them publicly and then listen to them a second time after the emotion of the moment passes. If practiced, it would make our dialogue with others a bit more measured and informed, and less emotionally driven.

When I was finished deleting the 27 messages, it felt good to look at an empty inbox. Not everything needs to be spoken or shared.