All my life I have had problems with my mouth. In Elementary school I had a teacher tape my mouth closed and in Jr. High they called me "motor mouth". In High School I put it to good use as a cheerleader (that didn't stop me from saying the wrong thing at the wrong time) and in college well, let's just say I was still known for talking too much and singing to loud. It has had it's advantages this being such a talker; I was a good salesperson and I can, if I want to... talk to just about anyone. The problem comes into play when I allow myself to relax too much, when I let my guard down and tease or "pop off". Something just comes rolling off my tongue, short and not so sweet or maybe funny but hurtful. I love people, I really do but sometimes my words don't seem to make that point. They don't honor. I can bark orders or disagree and it doesn't mean anything to me, it is nothing personal at all. I am just not being careful. Not that I say horrible things, but sometimes they don't have to be horrible to wound. Sometimes it's just the tone or the fact that people expect me to always be "sticky sweet". I wish I could be "sticky sweet" all the time but then I wouldn't be me. I laugh loud and talk loud and sometimes I am just plain snarky or sarcastic. I am not sure if sarcasm is a sin, maybe. Ratz. I am a work in progress, still working out this destiny of mine. Still flawed with a challenged "tongue" issue. On behalf of all women I do remember reading somewhere that the nerves that run from our speech center in the brain to our tongues is actually much shorter than a mans. We have less time to stop it, before it comes tumbling out than men. Just saying.
The Bible has a lot to say about our words and about self-control, here is just a sampling.
Proverbs 16:24 (GW) 24 Pleasant words are {like} honey from a honeycomb— sweet to the spirit and healthy for the body.
Matthew 12:36
“But I say to you that every idle
word men may speak, they will give account of in the day of judgment.”
Galatians 5:22-24 (ASV)
22 But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 meekness, self-control;
against such there is no law. 24 And they that are of Christ Jesus have
crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof.
