The power of our words—particularly for us as parents—is well-known. We probably all have memories of derisive words that have cut us down at critical times, or of encouraging words that have spurred us on. Yet the Bible tells us that it is very difficult to control our speech (see James 3:1-12). Try as we might, we all have moments when we give a tongue-lashing to a child that accomplishes little but wounding a sensitive spirit.
Our words, both negative and positive, are a reflection of our inner heart condition: “For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). It follows that if we want our speech to reflect God’s love and grace, our hearts must be right with Him.
God has worked on me a lot in this area over time. Slowly but surely, we’ve eliminated yelling…and undue criticism…and even what my husband would jokingly refer to as my “growling”—that grunt of displeasure that I couldn’t help but voice when things just suddenly got to be “too much.” Not that we are now perfect in this area, but we’ve definitely matured a great deal and drawn closer to God’s ideal.
I don’t say this to condemn or convict, but simply to set the stage for a story of God’s continued refinement of my heart—and mouth—through life’s circumstances.
Our three-year-old daughter recently broke her leg and had to have both legs and torso in a cast for an estimated six weeks. Needless to say, this forced some dramatic changes to our family of seven. (more…)
