When Your Mouth Moves Faster Than Your Heart

If you know me, you know I talk.

A lot.

I don’t just talk—I explain, re-explain, circle back, clarify the clarification, and then add one more example just in case you didn’t fully get it the first three times. And if it gets quiet? I panic a little and fill it. To me, silence feels like something is going wrong.

Now, why am I telling you this? Yes, there’s a point to this confession, I promise!

Recently, God has been teaching me that not every silence needs to be filled. And not every moment needs my voice in it.

For most of my life, I’ve viewed talking as a gift. After all, communication is a huge part of what I do. I write, I teach, I coach, I minister, and I encourage others through words. But recently I realized that I had become so focused on speaking that I wasn’t always listening.

Not just listening to people, but listening to God.

Now, before you check out, this blog is not about shutting down your personality. This is about surrendering noise.

Sometimes… your mouth is moving faster than your heart is listening.

“Be Quick to Listen”

James doesn’t play around with this.

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak…” (James 1:19)

Quick to listen.

Slow to speak.

Not be equal. Not have a balanced conversation. Not “try your best.”

Listen first. Speak second.

Which means most of us have it backward.

We’re fast to respond.

Fast to defend.

Fast to explain.

Fast to fix.

Fast to fill the gap.

But slow to actually hear.

And we wonder why we feel disconnected from people and distant from God…

The Quiet Can Feel Uncomfortable

Let’s be real. Silence makes a lot of us uncomfortable, because it feels like:

• awkwardness

• rejection

• boredom

• something is wrong

So we attempt to fill it.

With words.

With noise.

With opinions.

While talking over a moment God was trying to use.

Mary Chose What Was Better

One of my favorite stories in Scripture is in Luke 10:38-42, the story of Martha and Mary. Take some time to flip there and read it before you continue.

As you can see, Martha was busy serving and doing all the things she believed needed to be done. Meanwhile, her sister Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened. Martha wasn’t doing anything wrong. She was serving Jesus. But Jesus reminded her that Mary had chosen what was better in that moment.

Sometimes we are so busy doing, talking, planning, posting, serving, and striving that we forget to simply sit with Jesus.

We want to tell God all of our thoughts, concerns, and requests—which is important—but prayer is also about listening.

A healthy relationship requires both speaking and hearing. And this can be applied to not only your relationship with God, but with people!

The Lesson I’m Learning

You can be spiritually active and still spiritually deaf.

You can talk about God all day…

And still miss what He’s saying to you at night.

You can fill rooms with words…

And still have a heart that hasn’t sat still long enough to be changed.

The Truth About Me

I don’t talk because I always have something worth saying. I talk because I’m uncomfortable not controlling the moment.

If I keep talking, I don’t have to sit in awkwardness.

If I keep explaining, I don’t have to risk being misunderstood.

If I keep filling space, I don’t have to hear my insecurities.

God isn’t necessarily asking me to stop talking. Trust me, anyone who knows me knows that probably isn’t happening 😅

But He is teaching me to become comfortable with silence.

To pause before responding.

To listen before speaking.

To create space for others to share.

To create space for Him to speak.

I’ve learned that some of the sweetest moments with God happen when I stop trying to fill every second with words and simply sit in His presence. Silence isn’t empty when God is in it.

Sometimes the answer you’ve been looking for comes in the silence.

Sometimes the healing begins when you stop talking long enough to hear His voice.

And sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is nothing at all.

So What Do We Do With This?

Maybe the most spiritual thing you can do this week is pause before you respond.

Sit in a conversation without trying to fix it. Let someone finish without rehearsing your answer.

Spend time with God without filling every second with words.

Just sit.

Just listen.

Just be.

If we’re always talking, we might miss His whisper.

And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss Him.

Reflection

Are there areas in your life where you’ve been filling every quiet moment with noise?

What might God be trying to say if you slowed down long enough to listen?

This week, challenge yourself to spend a few minutes each day in intentional silence before the Lord. No agenda. No checklist. No rehearsed prayers.

Just listen.

You may be surprised by what you hear.