My professional career began with IBM, and they had a motto then which was conspicuously displayed all around the offices. It was one simple word: “Think.” Just “Think.”

I remember wondering why they would choose such a motto for the company. Doesn’t everybody think, I thought. Now I understand the importance of that simple one-word motto, because often we just don’t think enough. For example, how frequently are we engaging our mouths, saying things without thinking? And that usually ends up causing all kinds of trouble.

A friend once told me her teenage daughter and she had agreed to each wear a bracelet that says think, as a way to remind them to think before they speak. I got to thinking about that and decided it was a good idea. We have some bracelets for you, our listeners, that say think, to remind you to think about what you’re going to say before you say it. This could have dramatic positive results for all your relationships.

Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips (Psalm 141:3).

Perhaps wearing a bracelet that says think will help us to set guards over our mouths, so we think about what we say before we say it.

I want to give you an acrostic of the word think, to help you determine whether you should say what you are starting to say or not. We start with:

T stands for true: Is it true? Do you know for certain what you are just about to say is true? If not, don’t say it.

If we think before we speak and determine we’re not sure what we’re about to say is true, this will eliminate most gossip. Gossip is usually something we’ve heard but don’t really know for sure, but we freely pass it on. After all, it’s juicy and we just want to tell somebody that juicy tidbit. But if we start to think before we speak, and ask ourselves, “Is this true?” we’ll go a long way to eliminating gossipy talk, and that’s a very good thing.