Monday, February 12th, 2018

Our words and how we wield them are of great importance. There's just no denying it. Mom sent me an email with these notes well over a year ago and I'm so glad to have found them again. I'm good with words. I can use them to build up those I love and I can rip others to shreds because I also know the exact right words to use to hit them where it hurts. One day, I will have to answer for every word that left my lips during my lifetime. I'll have a lot less to own up to if I could keep these lessons in mind. In addition to the notes from Mom, I'd like to include this verse from the New Testament:

A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything, or destroy it! A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue, it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women He made in His image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth....Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. James 3:4-10, 13 The Message