Words of Wisdom
My sister, Ginny Phillips, teaches middle school math and I am convinced that she and other middle school teachers will have a special place in heaven. Teaching kids of that age can be a challenging job, because the kids are full of energy and raging hormones. They act silly and do goofy things. They are not quite children, but they are not adults either.
Ginny tells me that one of her biggest challenges is not necessarily teaching math, but teaching them to control their mouths. Therefore one of her favorite sayings is, “Every thought that comes into your head does not need to come out of your mouth.” This phrase is not for adolescent kids only, but can be very beneficial for all of us.
Just think what the world could be like if we would all just stop and think before we opened our mouth. Fights might be eliminated. Divorces might be reduced. Feelings might not be hurt. Regrets might be non-existent. Listening would probably become more prevalent and understanding could take place. Let’s face it, our mouths get us into a lot of trouble when we do not stop and think through our words and the effect that they might have on someone else.
Words can heal and words can hurt. Words can bring life and they can bring death. Words can encourage or they can discourage.
Words can be:
- Clarifying or confusing
- Soothing or seething
- Kind or cruel
- Humble or boastful
- Useful or useless
- True or false
- Full of sense or nonsense
- Careful or careless
- Loving or loathing
- Forgiving or forever
- Many or few
- Worthy or worthless
- Ideal or idle
- Well-spoken or ill-meaning
- Persuasive or perverse
So, what will you choose for your words to be?
It has been said that words are like toothpaste—once they have come out, you can’t put them back in. Will you stop before you open your mouth and question whether or not the words should be spoken at all?
Proverbs 17:27 The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.
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