Psalm 19:14 gives us wise advice that we must watch that our words are pleasing to the Lord at all times. It says: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer." This was brought home to me in a humerous way many years ago.
We were just a few months into our first pastorate in Arcadia, Nova Scotia, just outside of Yarmouth. Alannah had just turned four years old and being a pastor's daughter was a relatively new thing for a little girl to comprehend. Brad had been asked to do his first wedding and we were all happy for him and excited about this 'first' in his ministry. We talked of what we would wear to the wedding and wondered what the bride would look like etc, etc.
Alannah was enamoured with all things bridal and loved to look at magazines with wedding dresses and bouquets. Every night as I tucked her in and prayed with her, I would give her a kiss and say 'soon Dadda will be marrying Miss Blossom (yes that is her name), won't that be exciting?' and for the first few days she was excited and said 'I can't wait' or something along those lines.
Well, on one particular night, as we were doing our regular routine, I noticed that Alannah was trying to be so very brave and not cry. Her lower lip was trembling and try as I might, I could not convince her to tell me what the problem was. Eventually she burst into tears. I couldn't understand what was wrong, but I finally got it out of her. She said "I don't want Dadda to marry Miss Blossom and move away from us." Oh my dear, you can imagine how horrible I felt. All along as I was saying 'soon Dadda will be marrying Miss Blossom', I meant that he would be preforming the wedding ceremony. But since she was only four and it was her father's first wedding ceremony, she thought the worst: that her Dadda would be marrying someone else and be moving away.
I quickly explained the difference to her and she was comforted, but I don't think she truly believed me until she went to the wedding and saw Blossom kiss her groom and leave with him. It was a funny situation for the adults involved but it was very serious and actually quite dreadful for a four year old little girl.
Our words have such a tremendous power to them that we must be careful how we use them.
Pro 18:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue". That's a pretty powerful statement and so very true. I learned an important lesson that day that I have never forgotten.
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