It is inevitable. The mixing acids ruled by temperatures driving downward will kill. And when the lost one at last falls lifeless, a thousand things will occur in nature. On a purely surface level, the grass blades bend, vibrations reverberate for a millisecond, and minor wind currents are created. But beneath the initial obvious influences, there’s no end to the matter’s effect throughout the environment. Composition and composting are changed. Livelihoods are earned and more die. Scattered across the ground are millions of colorful moments in time.
In a small gathering of regular human beings there is the same phenomena lurking. Beneath every face lies a myriad of emotions, fortified by personal experience, time, and personality. Every word we let drop as it dies off our lips is like a leaf. Floating, floating down onto the ground of someone’s life.
What we say changes our world around us. I admit that anything can be said a multitude of effective ways. Perhaps the “effective” part should be directed towards building and not subtle, acidic discouragements...
I had been rushing back and forth between the kitchen and the family room perhaps only four hundred times that morning. Thankfully, the gigantic pile of glass and silver and fabric and flowers and rocks and miscellaneous was shrinking, but yet still it endeavored valiantly to intimidate me. In the background my sister loudly, incessantly, persistently used an eccentric accent to work on her school assignments, “Zee eeveel villaineeouz, veesciouz, mongreelz are crawling up zee zides of zee boat!” Perhaps it was helping her, perhaps it wasn’t; but that aside, the truth was, I had asked her to unload the dishwasher a few digits over two times throughout the morning.
A simple example, yes, but quite a few options of what to say to her at this point, were running through my mind. Any of them could be chosen with the utmost sincerity and emphasizing volume.
· “You eeveel, villaineeouz, monztrozity, of a zeezter, geet your ____ zelf eento zee kitchen or Eye veel keel you!”
· Or “Puuuuuhleese stop. You’re killing me. Why haven’t you done this yet? Why am I asking you again? Where are you? Don’t you know I can’t get my work done if you don’t help? Move. Move!”
· Or “You are the best dishwasher unloader we have! May God give you a desire to use your skills wisely…today…this morning…pretty soon!!”
While the first option might be most effective for my sister’s imagination, the point is we get to choose how to say things. We get to pull encouragement into everything, if we want! When our words hit the ground like an autumn leaf, they bend the grass. Perhaps we should bend things the right direction while we’re at it?
For the record, I chose option three this time. She rose from her seat, “zliced” me across my waist like all dangerous pirates will, and unloaded armloads of vases. She knows she’s the best dishwasher unloader now, and thinks she should keep her record secure. I tend to agree.
James 3:5-13
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
No comments:
Post a Comment