Watch Your Mouth

How do we do that? Yes, how do we watch our mouth? That would involve seeing our

mouth with our eyes. Tricky.

Here are a few more ‘word’ quotes:

*You may have to eat those words. Have you ever had to eat your words? I have. Not

very tasty, to say the least.

*If you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all. If you walk

into a roomful of people and no one is talking, that may be what is going on in there….

*Don’t let your mouth work faster than your mind. Hmmm…. that may take practice.

*Everyone is wise until he speaks. There is definitely some truth in that.

*The difference between an ‘almost’ right word and the right word is like the difference

between a lightning bug and lightning. Choose words very carefully.

*A tongue has no bones, but it is strong enough to break a heart. No bones, but 8

muscles that work overtime.

*Among my most prized possessions are words I have never spoken. I find it hard to

‘hold’ my tongue, but am proud of myself when I do.

*Teach your tongue to say, “I don’t know.” I should use this advice more often.

*Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. I beg to differ.

Words do hurt. So, let’s just throw out this adage that is now 154 years old. Oh, wait a

minute! I really should not have made a negative remark about a famous and very old

quote. I take those words back.

There are around 6,900 languages. The largest dictionary has over 400,000 words. We

speak somewhere between 7,000-20,000 words a day. The article I read with this

information stated that this was discovered while trying to prove that women talk more

than men. If that is true, perhaps men need to listen the first time, so we won’t have to

keep repeating ourselves. Sorry. I take those words back, too.

Did I just waste a good newspaper column space on some unimportant words? I don’t

think so.The Bible makes 100+ references to the power of words and the tongue, so it is

an important topic. Some personal favorites: Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind to one another.

Colossians 4:6 - Let your speech be always with grace. Proverbs 16:24 - Pleasant

words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

We all need to be reminded: Our. Words. Have. Power.

I am sorry. I love you. I believe in you. I forgive you. Will you forgive me? You can do it.

May I help you? You are right. I trust you. How was your day? I am so proud of you. I

can tell you worked hard on that.You are really special. I was wrong. You did a great

job. Do not worry about it. Thank you. Let me do that for you.

Just a sampling, but you get the idea. Words calm. Words challenge. Words comfort.

Words connect. Words cheer. Words confirm. Words. Change. Us. Choose. Them.

Carefully.

Maya Angelou, a poet who is well known for her autobiographical writings, beautifully

stated: “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” There are a lot of people with clouds

hovering over them - and no rainbow in sight. Let’s grab our dictionaries (dictionary.com

will suffice) and start finding encouraging and positive words to empower others to see

that rainbow!

Ready? Go for it!

Oh, one more thing: I love you… thank you for reading my column.