Devotional: September 2007

I grew up in church and learned many songs in Sunday school.  One of the songs I remember the most is one that said, “Oh, be careful little mouth what you say”.  I’m sure many of you remember it.  At the time, I thought being careful of what you say just meant to not take God’s name in vain or say bad words.  As I’ve grown older I’ve realized there’s a lot more to controlling your tongue than that. 

Sometime last year I got home from running some errands and my husband was not at home.  We had planned that he would help me with something that evening and I guess it slipped his mind.  It wasn’t a tragic offense, but my human self found it, well, annoying.  From previous experience, I knew if I sat around the house and thought about it, I would get more upset than the situation warranted.  And I didn’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill, so to speak.  So I grabbed the laundry, loaded it into the car and headed to the Laundromat.  I figured that would keep me busy.  I hadn’t considered the fact that once the laundry was in the machine, I wouldn’t have anything to do.  So I ended up mulling over the situation anyway.  The more I thought about it, the more annoyed I became.  So I began to pray. 

“Lord,” I said, “you’re going to have to give me the strength to just let this go and not run my mouth about it.”  Then a familiar verse came to mind: “…the joy of the Lord is your strength.”   “But I don’t have a lot of joy right now, Lord,” I said.  Then another verse came to me: “A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!”  It was an amazing thought pattern that I believe the Lord orchestrated.  God showed me that by choosing my words carefully I could have joy in the situation.  I could simply leave the situation in His hands and allow Him to work it out. 

So I went home and kept my mouth shut.  I not only kept my mouth shut, but I was happy about it!  Turns out, I never had to say a word about what had happened.  And when my husband arrived home, he apologized for his minor error and that was the end of it.  Words are like a magnifying glass.  We can mumble and complain about a situation until it seems a lot bigger than it actually is.  We can be so negative about our lives just in the way we speak that we actually bring that negativity to pass.  I can magnify my problems or magnify my Savior and the many blessings in my life.  Which do you think is going to benefit me more? 

There could be many books written on the tongue and I could go on all day about the power of your words.  There is not time or space for that, but I encourage you to remember that your words are powerful.  Once they are out of your mouth, you can never get them back. 

Sonya