With a toddler around, "What's in your mouth?" is an oft-heard question, followed by "Spit that out right now."

I think God would would to ask a lot of us the same question. Whether it's the news or casual chit-chat at the grocery store or Facebook status updates and tweets on Twitter, folks are putting a lot of ugly, nasty stuff in their mouths ... doom and gloom and misery and disaster and evil forebodings. (Technically, it's cursing... speaking evil of something or someone.) If you're a Christian, it's customary to follow up these curses with a verbal 180 in the form of "We must pray!"

What if we just didn't say all that stuff in the first place?

Sure, things would still happen... there would still be foolish politicians and lousy weather patterns and outbreaks of the flu, but at least they wouldn't be fanned and fueled to wildfire proportions by a lot of verbal hot air.

Does it make a difference what we say? Does it really matter?
Jesus thought so...

21 "You're familiar with the command to the ancients, 'Do not murder.' 22 I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.
Matt 5:21-22 (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

34 "You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It's your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. 35 A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. 36 Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. 37 Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation."
Matt 12:34-37 (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

Here's a challenge. For the next day or so make a point to watch what you put in your mouth. Don't speak what you don't want. Don't say anything you wouldn't want to have in your life. Stop mindlessly repeating reports of doom and destruction.

Just getting the negative out of your mouth will make a difference in how you feel, how you approach life, and how you respond to the people around you. Try it. You might like it!

Today at Inkwell Inspirations, where I co-blog with the most amazing group of women I've had the privilege to get to know online, we re-posted one of our self-help posts from our early days. This one post has received 1,500 "hits" since it went up the first time. (Click the button below to read it yourself.)


I'm flabbergasted. Humbled. Cautioned.

Words have power. Supernatural power. Creative and destructive power. And when those words are written down, there's no limit to their reach, not just today or next year, or in our transient lifetime here on earth.

I am reminded today that being a writer, a blogger, even a Twitter/Facebook user is not just a hobby, or a gift, or a way to *try* to remain somewhat sane in an insane world, it's a responsibility to use those words for good.




 

I have this quote hanging on my wall. Every time I read it I'm inspired to do some things differently in my thinking, in my words and actions, and especially in the way I treat other people.
Thought I'd share it with you today ... enjoy!

I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element:

It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.

I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor; hurt or heal.

In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or deescalated, and a person is humanized or dehumanized.

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse.
If we treat people as they ought to be,we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832

Brought to you by the letter "W,"  an a2z4u and me post.



WRITING. I wake up with words in my head. I go to bed with words in my head. Sometimes the challenge of extracting those words and putting them in print is enough to make me cry in frustration, and when the words flow like a river in spring run-off, it's better than sex. Okay, maybe not quite, but it's awfully close.

I think in words, not pictures. The recent move toward pictorial instructions and signage drives me crazy. Stick one of these pictorial signs in front of me and I feel like I've been presented with a Russian phrase to translate.


Did you know most people don't have a perpetual stream of words running through their brains? That when asked to spell a word they don't see a ticker tape of letters in their mind's eye? In my opinion, that explains so much about the absolute WEIRDNESS of the rest of the population.(Seriously, thank goodness for 'em ... otherwise I would still be trying to figure out how to operate some very common appliances.)

Have you noticed the general weirdness of the world lately? Have you wondered if weird should be spelled with an "i" before the "e" according to the rule? Somehow it seems appropriate that the word "weird" twists the rules of English, doesn't it? 

My other W word is WESTIE. I am the proud owner of a West Highland White Terrier named Archie. Yep, he's the same kind of doggy highlighted on those Cesar dog food commercials.

What those commercials don't tell you is that Westies are only cuddly in the morning when they want you to get out of bed and get their food, and that after they nuzzle your nose they turn right around and lick their butts. On your pillow.

Archie after recent skunk encounter.

And they are never actually white. Like most white animals, Westies have a predilection for being dirty. Call it the instinctual desire for camouflage or the urge to get revenge for being forced to bathe, Westies do not like to be clean for any length of time.

All that said, I've never had a better dog. He's uber-independent, only sits in my lap when he's bribed with food, and thinks he's in charge of the entire household, but I know he loves me. As I type this, Archie is curled up in his basket. The basket I have placed at the end of my desk. Yes, if I moved his basket somewhere else, he'd go there ... it has nothing to do with MY location. Ah, well. If I had a needy dog I'd probably resent his neediness.With Archie I'm grateful for every scrap of attention he deems acceptable to offer.

Hmm... I'm sure there's something amiss with that last sentence, but I can't think about it now, Archie needs me!

In spite of seeds that refused to sprout altogether and seeds that washed right out of their tidy little rows and opted to take root in the valley instead; despite a cool and rainy June and July that resulted in stunted corn, sparse spinach, and slow-growing green beans; even though the squash and zucchini plants failed to blossom until early August; harvest season has come!

Back in June I was in the throes of doubt over those tiny specks I'd buried in the soil. Today I'm awed at what those seeds have produced.

Jesus said words are like seeds. Words received into our hearts will produce fruit – or weeds – in our lives the same way those seeds I planted back in June have grown into full-fledged plants.What's being produced is the result of seeds sown and received. Therefore, if I don't LIKE what I'm producing, I need to change what I'm putting in the ground, right?

Words (whether spoken aloud, heard and accepted as truth, or silently spoken in your head) like "I can't" and "I'll never" and "this isn't working" and "it's impossible" are guaranteed to produce thorny, spiny, stinky weeds in your life.


Words like "I hate this" and "this is stupid" poison the ground of your heart so that weeds grow faster and good seeds struggle to survive.

Fearful words are the equivalent freezing temperatures. Angry words scorch the soil with heat.

I've got some changes to make in what I'm producing, do you?

In our new, multilingual society, written, verbal instructions have been replaced by pictures. Cave art quality pictures. Stick people pictures. For those of us who are word-oriented, the new trend toward pictorial instructions is a pain in the, er, brain.

I think this is "how to make a cane." I could be wrong.
photo by quarksteilchen	via PhotoRee

People gripe and grumble about everything appearing in Spanish, but I'd much rather try to interpret a sign in Spanish than a sign in pictographs.

It used to be that I could read the multiple pages of instructions and figure out where that last nut and bolt were supposed to go. I could determine which step we'd skipped in assembly or activation of an item. Nowadays, I feel completely illiterate. Pictures mean nothing to me, particularly pictures that are little more than strange symbols.

THIS makes sense.
photo by Paul Hagon	via PhotoRee

Anybody else experiencing this discomfort? Wishing we could go back to the days of instructions that were actually written out in letters?

WARNING: There may be words, or the suggestion of words, in this post that you may find offensive. My purpose is not to offend, but to open a line of thinking. 


"Mrs. Turner, you said the "c" word!"
The young man was indignant. I stopped, hit "rewind" on my brain, and scrambled to figure out what "c" word I had uttered. Several unpleasant words I knew I hadn't said came to mind before I realized the source of the offense. I'd said "crap" in reference to something about the lies of the enemy.

I attempted to continue, silently wondering when "crap" became a bad word, and if there were other bad words I had yet to learn.

Photo by Tuassi via Flickr

What makes a word—a collection of letters jumbled together to represent an intelligible sound—a "bad" word? When does a word go from being merely a neutral word to being a cuss word, a curse word, or profanity? If the transformation of a word from a "good" word to a "bad" word is related to its meaning, in which case "poop" and the "s" word would fall in the same category as "crap"? Why, then, are the words "stool," "dung," and "excrement" considered acceptable? That would mean the word "urinate" is OK, but "piss" is not, and "pee" is questionable. Hmm. Logically, that line of reasoning is about as solid as a fishnet stocking.

Perhaps it's related to language. The words "butt" and "buttocks" are considered impolite by some, so they use "derriere" instead. Translating a "bad" English word into French makes it acceptable? Does that mean the use of British, French, or German swear words is less offensive (as long as you aren't speaking to a Brit, a Frenchman, or a German) to God and society?


If it's not related to the meaning of the word or the particular language in which the word is said, it must be related to the intention, or motive, for the word's use. Hence the reason it's OK to go for a ride on an ass of the equine variety, but it's not OK to act like one. When referring to a female dog, you can call her a bitch. But to call your wife that is not only to declare yourself a dog, it's to put your life at risk. (Never call the person responsible for your food preparation nasty names.)

Of course, that logic puts many of the words that slip from our lips in the curse word category. Mean words, fear-filled words, hateful words, lying words, words full of doubt and unbelief. To "curse" something means to speak evil of a thing or a person. It's the opposite of "bless."

That means calling my house a dump, or my car a lemon is the equivalent of calling the car a piece of s*** or the house a pile of same, even though we'd never be rebuked for saying "dump" or "lemon."

If we want to play at being the "word police," picking and choosing violations of speech from among our vocabularies, I think we must begin to weigh all our words on the same scale -- by intention and motive, not merely by a certain combination of letters. I'd much rather hear a string of four-letter words spoken without malicious intent than 30 seconds of 25-cent negativity intended to mislead and manipulate. In my opinion, that kind of "language" is far more profane than the utterance of a common cuss word.

Just a thought. 

Imagine if your mouth had a "playback" button.
Now, close your eyes and listen to all the words you've uttered since you got up this morning. Not just the ones you said aloud, but the words you whispered in your heart about your body while standing in front of your bathroom mirror, the ones you posted on your Facebook status about your displeasure with the government, the ones you muttered under your breath about the phone call from your family member.

Listen carefully... what did you say? Now, imagine those words instantly becoming reality.

• The vicious attack you made against your body or your mind is now in effect.
• Your angry commentary about the health care bill, the president, or your belief that the nation is tumbling headfirst into communism.
• And the snarky complaint about your lazy, good-for-nothing family member who ought'a be in jail

Mm-hmm. Instant reality. Scary, isn't it?

Even the "lightweight" words, the teasing, jesting words, like calling your spouse an idiot. Or a nag.
Really? That's how you see him or her? And by the way, if you married an idiot or a nag, what exactly does that make you?

Oh, you say, it's just words. It's how I see things right now, how I feel about what's going on. It's my opinion, and I'm entitled to express it. I don't MEAN it. Talk's cheap, don't ya know? No, it's really not.

Ten of the twelve Hebrew spies who went into the promised land came back with a negative report. Their message of gloom and doom and destruction set the whole nation to wailing and complaining about the miserable state they were in (this is, mind you, before they ever had their first battle). Those spies must have thought words were cheap and powerless.

But God didn't think so. In fact, when God shows up on the scene, he tells the whole lot of them they'll get to spend forty years wandering in the desert because of their griping. The ten spies with the bad report died by the plague. "Say to them, 'As I live,' says the Lord, 'just as you have spoken in my hearing, so I will do to you;" (Numbers 14:28)
In other words, it's a lot like that old Toyota slogan... "you asked for it, you got it."

• Proverbs 18:21 says life and death is in the power of the tongue.
• James writes, "A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything - or destroy it."  (James 3:5 MSG)
• In Mark 11:23, Jesus says, "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will done, he will have whatever he says."
• Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:12, "And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak,"

Words are containers of power.

Words can change the course of a life, or a nation.
And yet we throw them around carelessly, like ignorant children playing with hand grenades.

It's so easy to fall into bad moods and attitudes, and promptly process those thoughts and feelings into words. But the question we must ask ourselves (hopefully before the words are released into the atmosphere) is this: Is this what I really want? Because when (not if) it comes to pass - it could be tomorrow or it could take forty years - we will each one be held responsible for what we spoke concerning our little piece of the universe.

"But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:36-37

It's time we wash our mouths out with our Bibles and stop the stream of cursing that's rapidly becoming a raging river. The same folks who wouldn't dare let a cuss word escape their lips will turn around and bash the president, slam their boss, and undermine their own finances, marriage, and family with their words.

Here's an easy way to remember this principle, and keep out of a lot of trouble:
"If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all."
It could get really quiet around here...


Soap mouth via missnita@Flickr

How easily words fly from our lips, especially when we're hurting, ill, depressed, or afraid. And yet, it's during those times we need to be most diligent to "zip it."

Why? It goes back to the way we're made, our "divine design." We're created in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27). Not just a two-dimensional copy, but a fully-functioning 3-D model.

When God created the earth as we know it, He did so by speaking words. "'Let there be lights...' And it was so." (Gen 1:14-15) "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word." (Heb 1:3)

Science has only recently discovered the existence of the quark, the smallest particle of matter. At the sub-atomic level, quarks respond to, of all things, sound waves. Why? Because that's what they are made of. Sound. The spoken Word of God created and continues to sustain them, after all this time.

What does that have to do with us? With our day to day existence? Well, at the sub-atomic level YOU are made up of quarks. And your quarks respond to sounds. What sound do your quarks "hear" the most? Your own voice.

It's been proven again and again: you can "talk" yourself into a better mood, into a different perspective, or even into (or out of) pain. But it takes a conscious choice to change what we're saying. We talk so much and say so many silly things, often we aren't even aware of the effect our words are having on us.

For example, there's a story of a woman who was in the hospital with a fever of undiagnosed origin (an FUO). Despite all the tests and treatments, doctors could not get a handle on the source of the fever in her body. Finally, one doctor sat down with her at her bedside, just to chat. After a nice conversation, he asked her, "Do you say that a lot?"
"Say what?" She asked.
"I keep hearing you say "that just burns me up" when you're talking about things that bother you, or things you disagree with. Do you say that a lot?"
"I guess I do."
The physician asked the woman to cut that phrase out of her vocabulary, just on a whim. She did, and within a couple days, the fever left and didn't come back. Her body was responding to her words.

It's really quite simple. Until you try it.

Our minds and bodies are conditioned from birth to respond to words--our own and other people's--and the words we've spoken, or heard, over and over again, have created deep channels, or ruts, that have to be filled in before we can create new pathways. That takes time. And effort.  But it can be done. Ask God for help, for grace, to "get a grip on your lip." Tell friends and family you're going to change the way you talk about yourself, or about some situation in your life that's troublesome, and ask them to provide a "check" for you when you slip up.

Proverbs 18:21 says, "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."

Change what you think, how you feel, what you believe, by changing what you say!






Sugar Filled Emotions: Living With Or Suffering From

Robin Lee Hatcher reposted this from Randy Alcorn's blog and it is too good not to share.
I wouldn't mind having this framed and hung in every room at eye level!

Four things you can't recover...
 

 

 

 
 p.s.
Click the links to visit Robin Lee Hatcher's blog and Randy Alcorn's blog! Both are well worth the time.