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Matthew 12:36 "And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment." It was time for bedtime prayers: "Dear Jesus, please make Frau Snyder not be mad at me." "Frau Snyder was mad at you? What for?" (Frau Snyder's my daughter's first grade teacher.) "She was mad because I didn't have the right money for the pictures. She showed me the money I'm suppose to have. It's a green one and some coins." (We live in Switzerland where the francs are color coded.) I said, "Sabrina, the money I sent you with today was for the Christmas cookies you made on Monday. The money for the pictures, you will take tomorrow. You just got mixed up. I will tell Frau Snyder it was my fault, okay?" That went well with her. The next morning I wrote to the teacher and explained the money issue and about Sabrina's prayer. I got back a lovely letter from her beginning with "You are right! I get very nervous during this time of year. I will apologize to Sabrina." She attached a note writing exactly the words she had said in apology to my daughter. I read the note to Sabrina and she said that was what her teacher had said to her. It was a good ending to our little drama. That night when she said her prayer it went: "Dear Jesus, please make Frau Snyder not be nervous." I laughed. How we use words is interesting. We believe that if we change the word we can change how individuals see our behavior. We "sweeten" them to make them more palatable. We aren't late. We are "fashionably late." It wasn't a lie, it was a "white lie." And we aren't "angry" - we're just "nervous." We can "sugar coat" our words all we want but the meaning remains clear to some individuals. Individuals like children and God. Being late is being late. Lies are lies. And anger is anger. God takes our choice of words seriously and we should too. We only fool ourselves when we "sugar coat" our words. Dear Lord, help us realize our choice of words matter to You, to others and to ourselves. Please develop in us a desire to "speak the truth in love."
Article Source: http://christian-topics.info
Shari Weigerstorfer is a free-lance Christian writer, native to the West Coast of America. When not indulging in her passion for travel, she writes from her home in Switzerland. Other articles by Shari can be found on her site at Faithwriters.com.
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