Day 20 :: A guard and filter for my mouth
Sitting on the couch on a brisk Saturday morning, trying to spend a few minutes reading my Bible before the children wake up.
I hear drawers slamming, children talking, and down come my two little girls. They crawl on the couch next to me, happy and ready for a few snuggles.
I read about looking to the Lord, setting a guard over my mouth.
They start to quarrel.
“Don’t touch me.”
“She’s taking it from me.”
“The books are touching.”
And, in a brief ten minutes, I’ve corrected my children at least a dozen times.
Words.
And, it’s not just the words, it’s our tone, our motive, our interpretation of the words.
How do I teach these little ones about the power of our words?
How can I teach them about words when I fail so often to speak in the right way?
It begins with the heart.
If I want to encourage, build up, love, thank, then my heart must be filled with truths that will work as a guard and filter for my mouth.
So, I speak to them about pleasant words.
“Do you like to eat honey?” I ask.
“Yes, Mommy!”
“Did you know that the Bible says our words can be like honey?”
If my heart is setting a guard over my mouth, a filter to sift out the unpleasant, hurtful words, gossip, words spoken in a wrong tone of voice, then I can offer sweet honey to those around me.
Oh, that today I would allow my heart to be a guard and filter for my mouth so that the way I speak will be like honey to my children.
To see a list of all posts in this series go here.
One Comment
Erickson Family
Such a good thought for this day! When I was teaching little ones I used to do a lesson on guarding our tongues by giving them something sweet (candy) to taste and then a sour lemon to taste. We talked about which tasted sweet in our mouths and made us want more. Sometimes when a child was acting particularly “sour” I would pull them aside and give them a few M&Ms to help them “get sweet”. It worked every time because it was undeserved grace and it always caught them off guard. The child would soon resume his/her sweet demeanor. I should try these techniques now with my own kiddos. thanks for the reminder of filling our hearts with the truth so the overflow of our hearts will be pleasing to the Lord.