Proverbs tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue. I’ve experienced this from both sides. I’ve cowered beneath words like a whiplash, and I’ve wiped the joy from my child’s eyes by abrupt, impatient speech and a harsh tone. Likewise, life-giving healing has been spoken over me, and I’ve uttered what nourishes and comforts.
The fully fleshed out Beloved Life speaks love. Words and ways of speaking alike say, “I am dearly loved, and so are you. I am valued independent of how I perform, and so are you. I am worthy in my status as beloved, and so are you.”
I am far from arrived in this way of living Beloved. I’ve dismissed and belittled with my tongue, I’ve sought gossip to falsely elevate myself while devaluing another, and I’ve used my humor to tear down rather than uplift. In so doing I reject my own belovedness and deny others’.
The good news is that time and prayer can train and tame the tongue. As I seek to turn my words from bitter and broken to whole and beloved, silence can be a refuge. I seek quiet when gracious words will not rise. It is a step along the journey, to seek to not do harm on the way to speaking healing. And as I steep myself in life-giving Words, they will come faster to my lips.
In your words today, how can you sound more like the Beloved? How can your words call others Beloved?
October 23rd, 2011 at 6:34 pm
I know what my speech should sound like – seasoned with grace and only what is edifying to those who hear it – but I have far to go!
October 24th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Trish– I am convinced this is a lifelong process– I think much of my struggle is that ! am so mired in reacting to my circumstances that I don’t get to responding as a whole child of God. Thank goodness I’m not finished yet!
October 24th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Yes, Missy! To respond instead of react. That is what I’m trying to learn, too.
October 24th, 2011 at 12:26 am
Oh, so true! This fall, I have been reading Grace Based Parenting with a friend of mine and have been so thankful for the reminder that I need to work on showing more grace to my family through my words and tone of voice. What a difference it can make in the tone of our days together!
October 24th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Oh, Kristin, I hear you. We are huge in their small worlds, and in their days. I was reading some posts from an old blog of mine, and ran across this one about setting tone– it goes beyond speech to action, but the same idea is there: http://everyday-graces.blogspot.com/2007/02/matter-of-tone.html
Thanks for commenting!
October 24th, 2011 at 11:33 am
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