A word has the power to bring life or death. A kind word has the power to encourage, uplift and inspire: it is a word of life. A word of criticism has the power to upset, discourage and deflate.
I am more aware of this as even drawing a comparison is a word of criticism. I want my words to be words of life-words I speak over my children, husband, family and friends. I don’t want to be tearing down people through the power of my tongue.
So, if our Tongue, as it says in the bible, is like a rudder which can guide the ship this way and that; but is such a tiny piece(relatively!) then how do I control this pink muscle 
Well, Phillipians 3 reminds us to fix our eyes on things that are good, pure and lovely. One of my favourite verses for overcoming negative thoughts. Mum used to tell us to think about good things if we were scared. To think about God’s goodness is one way to leash the wild, out of control tongue almost forcing it into submission that it will speak well of others, will encourage others and will not criticise…. But is it really our Tongue that has a life of its own, unknowingly speaking without the brains’ sayso? Surely a thought leads to an action, an action leads to a word? So, by controlling our thoughts and therefore our actions, our little rudder of a Tongue can be guided-rather than misguided – and can become powerful at bringing life once again.
Try it! I am. I was retelling a story to Ryan a few nights ago about how I made a comparison and it sounded horrible and I was really upset with myself for saying it. He told me how I get really upset about what I say. Shocked, I asked if I did it all the time! He reminded me that I don’t but when I do it affects me. I don’t want to draw comparisons because they ultimately are criticisms.
Funny to think that after my comparison, I was at a playgroup and someone mentioned that their darling angel was in top set literacy, numeracy and could count and recognise up to 40, or was it 80, and a whole lot more exciting facts (that, unfortunately my girl has not yet mastered….) I was totally impressed and wondered at what point my parenting as a parent and as a teacher had failed my daughter. Only later when I mentioned about b writing a letter to the teacher for a bread recipe did I realise that my girl wasn’t “behind” and might see an influx of letters I was rather bothered about the setting and streaming 4 year olds. Bothered so much that at this point I will not find out which group b is in. I don’t want pressure to perform at 4. Or 10. Maybe at 16, aww she’ll only be 15 when she takes her gcse’s but still, I want her to continue to love life, write letters, dance and twirl and sing and chat. (and the age related things that follow, but for neither of my bbs to lose the thrill of life and the fun they find) And can she chat? (if you know me you will honestly have no idea where she gets that from!! Lol) So my initiation into the child comparison was a bit of a flop. I felt awkward. I decided that even if the genius can count and recognise up to 80 and everything else then I must celebrate too. Because being genuine about a child’s success is really important. And I don’t want to be a boasty mum. I just want the best for my children, today, tomorrow and for the rest of their precious lives. Speaking a word of life to my children is relatively easy, speaking a word of life to genius child should also be easy-because words encourage, uplift and inspire and that is what I want to do. Wherever I am. Whoever I am with.
With hope that my Tongue will be a life giving Tongue. And yours too! Love a xox
Ps: apologies for previous post on writing and reading? I want impressed. But somehow managed to publish it rather than save as draft. You probably didn’t read it so that’s ok. Am meant to be trying to write a paragraph per day of quality. But I got so busy with some other tasks, and I barely had time to bake so my blog fell even further behind. Right back to it. I enjoy the challenge of writing something new. I am preaching next week at church. After a couple of suggestions from my sister (I think they were jokes?) I am decided. It’s hopefully going to bring freedom to people and inspire then in their life….. I am quite excited but won’t be able to blog on that subject til after Sunday- I don’t want to spoil it for my blog readers at church!!!! Xo
