Why Your Mouth Matters

“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”

Do you know what’s in your mouth?

 

Aren’t you glad I told you that? Actually, that sentence is a ‘pangram’ – a phrase that uses all the letters of the alphabet in a coherent and short manner. You may remember it from typing class if you’re older than 50 years old!

It’s amazing what combinations of those 26 letters can spell … words that ignite passion, start wars, placate warring parties, comfort the stricken and produce both despair and hope. There is no direction our words cannot take us, from the highest of heights to the most dismal of depths.

The Bible says that the tongue (which forms our vocabulary) can bless or it can curse. It can lift up or tear down. There is both life and death in the words we say and even in the words that never come out of our mouths but take their form in our minds.

New Testament writer James says that from the same mouth come blessings and curses. Then he says something that really should be obvious … “We shouldn’t do that!”

Things we say and think affect those around us. Tell someone for long enough that they don’t look well … that their skin is a pathetic pale color … that their eyes look sickly and clouded over, and very soon that person doesn’t feel very well!

But there are others whose lives, attitudes and entire futures were turned around by words of encouragement. Dead spirits revived through the words of another.

This week, don’t take for granted the awesome, potential power for good when we construct words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs and pronouncements that go to building up others. Someone may need your words to tell them what God has always thought about them!

Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.”  Colossians 4:6 The Message

Do you know what’s in your mouth?

May you find joy in your journey and may others find life in your words!

Paul Walterman

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