Happy Monday. Remember to keep your words sweet; you might need to eat them.
On Mother’s Day, you probably thought about “Mom,” as did I. A memory that comes to my mind was of looking through my mother’s well-worn Bible shortly after her death. I found a handwritten verse stuck in the pages. It said, Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. – Psalm 141:3
I pondered that finding. Did Mom feel she needed a special reminder in this area of her life? I do not know. However, through the ensuing years I have thought of that verse and even prayed those words many times.
Words are wonderful. My husband used to say he loved words, thus he painted good word pictures in poetry, sermons, etc. Words have the power to make a gray day suddenly beautiful, to make a discouraged one take heart, and to bring comfort where there was sadness. Why do we not use every opportunity to speak them? They are free.
Words reveal what we are. Matthew 12:34 says, …for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. What is in the bucket of the mouth comes from the well of the heart.
God’s Word says so much about words and the tongue, and in no uncertain words says if one thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, his religion is vain. (James 1:26) In this day of “information overload,” it is time we come into agreement with God, Who says in Matthew 12:35 that good things come from a good heart and evil things from an evil heart. Can we argue that or disregard it?
In Jesus’ own words, He said that we would give an account of every idle word.
One of the saddest ways we can use our words is to harm another. The following is an article I cut out of the newspaper many years ago:
Nobody’s Friend
My name is Gossip. I have no respect for justice.
I maim without killing. I break hearts and ruin lives.
I am cunning and malicious and gather strength with age.
The more I am quoted, the more I am believed.
My victims are helpless. They cannot protect themselves
against me because I have no name and no face.
To track me down is impossible.
The harder you try, the more elusive I become.
I am nobody’s friend.
Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same.
I topple governments and wreck marriages.
I ruin careers and cause sleepless nights,
heartaches and indigestion.
I make innocent people cry in their pillows.
Even my name hisses. I am called Gossip.
I make headlines and headaches.
Before you repeat a story, ask yourself:
Is it true? Is it harmless?
Is it necessary? If it isn’t, don’t repeat it!
~ Author Unknown
“If you think some praise is due him,
Now’s the time to slip it to him,
For he cannot read his tombstone when he’s dead.”
– Berton Braley
by Beverly Hyles
From the Mondays with Beverly blog. Reprinted with permission.