Yesterday I began the topic of women who talk too much. Talking too much might include things like finishing someone else’s sentences, or having the last word or even one-upping them in a conversation. She may also over talk, which is continuing to talk while someone else is speaking. She may also interrupt the speaker to insert her point of view.
Have you ever listened to yourself when you talk? Have you ever had the opportunity to observe yourself interacting with your husband or someone else? This can be very enlightening!
Very often the women who complain about their husbands exhibit these types of behaviors. This is really a serious problem in a marriage or relationship, ladies!
Some other ways women talk too much are: babbling on and on about nothing, having idle talk or gossip about others, participating in unwholesome or careless talk about immoral or unseemly things. They become busybodies, knowing everyone’s business. They may also be sarcastic and critical of others thinking they are superior to their peers.
I have seen how women respond to other women who talk too much; they are excluded and ostracized because for some reason we tend not to tolerate this from each other.
The Husbands seem to respond to their wives who talk too much in a variety of ways. Some simply tolerate the behavior or ignore her as she goes on and on. Other men will yell at or berate their wives for talking too much, telling her to “shut up.” Depending on the personality of the man, he may even adopt a passive role in the marriage; submitting to his wife out of self-preservation.
These marriages may have started out loving and wonderful, but many have become prisons of misery for everyone concerned. The wives become shrill and shrewish and the husbands become withdrawn and henpecked.
As with all matters we face, dealing with this issue begins in the heart and her life will be changed as the heart of the woman is changed by God. She must begin to change this life dominating sinful pattern by asking God to help her to see her heart. David said in Psalm 139 "see if there is any wicked way in me" and this must be her prayer too.
As God reveals the contents of the sinful heart, she must repent of her sin and then and confess it to those she has sinned against. It is good to be honest with them about what she has learned about herself. She must ask forgiveness from those she has hurt and sinned against, and thank God for His forgiveness as well.
Then it is time to demonstrate some practical actions of repentance. Some things a person can do would be to keep a little journal of the times they are tempted to sin in speaking and every day or so, go back and look at those entries.
Determine what the thoughts, beliefs, and desires of the heart were at the time of temptation or sin. Make a biblical plan to change, first by having the mind renewed by the Word of God (Rom. 12:2) with prayer, and then by making practical plans for when tempted to sin this way. When failure occurs, promptly confess it and examine where the error in thoughts, beliefs, and desires took place and then plan a different biblical response for next time. Sinful patterns can be overcome through mind renewal and a biblical plan for change.