Words

I have been thinking about the paradox of writing a post on limiting words.  I have been far too liberal with my use of words lately and I keep thinking I need to stop their flow for a while.  Then I get on the computer and crank out several hundred.  I hope that these are not wasted. 

 There was this great section in Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl, by Nate Wilson, where he talked about the power of words.  I've thought about that a lot in the past couple of months.  He started with the point that God created the world with words.  That words have the power to bring life.  Words can be used to build people up.  I have tried to keep this in mind when I speak to my family.  I want my words to give them life.  I try to think about how to put things in a more positive light.  Instead of firing off the list of thou shalt nots, I try to encourage them to do things that are good.  This does not come naturally for me.  I have found myself on my knees every Sunday morning confessing the same lack of kindness with my tongue, over and over.  If I were God I would be tired of hearing by it now, but thankfully I am not God.

The tongue is a powerful little muscle.  In James he warns us that it emits little sparks that can burn down whole forests.  I thought about that for a long time.  A little spark, one little word, can fire up a whole family, or church, or book group, or whatever.  How often I have gone off in a rant and let a whole flame thrower out of my mouth.  It brings tears to my eyes to think about how often I let those words fly.  I can't take them back.  I can apologize and ask for forgiveness, but often the damage is done.  Those words reveal what is in my heart, and sometimes its ugliness shocks me. 

I believe that Jesus can conquer this weakness in my life.  I need to keep my mouth shut, until I have had a split second to think about what I am about to let loose.  I want to speak more light than darkness.  Sometimes I let myself be too hard on my kids, because I don't want them to be proud.  I want to build them up and encourage them, but I want them to remember that they are not perfect.  I'm still praying about how to keep that balance.  I think most of all I need to work on keeping my teeth firmly on my tongue until my ears and my brain are done with their work.  I need to spend more time listening, and meditating and less time scribbling with my words.  All of you friends that read this blog, this is your call to keep me honest.  Step on my toes when I am blathering on, I promise that I will thank you for it.