Day Twelve

Day Twelve // March 10 // Stridence in Speaking

“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.” – Benjamin Franklin –

It is a colossal and tragic lie that we insist upon teaching our kids: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” What a disservice we inflict upon them by allowing them to believe – even for a moment – that words haven’t the capacity to wound. From experience, we know that words can, indeed, inflict the worst kind of pain, the worst kind of torment. Deeper than the cutting of flesh or the snapping of bone, words have the incredible power to wound our souls.

It is for that reason that we must always be mindful of the ways we speak. From the emptiness of boasting to the hurtfulness of lies, like the Almighty, we have the awesome ability to create simply by speaking. We

can speak and create hope, or we can speak and create despair. We can speak and create love, or we can speak and create hate. With our words, we can bless or we can curse; with them, we can bolster a soul, or we can tear a soul to shreds. And technology hasn’t helped. Today, we have more ingenious, more insidious ways of being catty, unChristian and unkind – for all the world to imbibe.

If by putting a bit in a horse’s mouth we’re able to steer the enormous steed, the Book of James suggests, then it would behoove us to tame our own tongues, as well. Such is the Gospel’s call: to a practical piety that finds its life and its voice in the mouths of the faithful – each word a gateway that invites others to know the Savior. If we must gossip, then let it be of what the Lord has done. If we must tell a tale, then let it be of the Good News. Let our stridency be for the Kingdom’s work and not for our own. Let it be to the glory of God and to not any other.