April 11, 2011- The Power of the Tongue!

     There's a few verses in the Bible about the power of the tongue. Proverbs 18:21 says, "The tongue has the power of life and death..."  In James 3, it talks about taming the tongue, how both praise and evil can come out of our mouths to corrupt or uplift ourselves and others. Sometimes, we don't realize how much our words affect others. They can be prophetic, speaking bad things over ourselves and others as we criticize and keep in the front of our mind all the terrible things that could happen to us, which we bring to life by simply thinking about these worse case scenarios all the time.  Consider how a bad dream makes you wake up feeling yucky, and if you don't make a concerted effort to put that dream out of your mind, it leads to a bad morning because your mind is set on the negative from the start.  Positive thinking draws positive energy to you and others.  Think about how one ugly comment from a co-worker or friend in the middle of the day can change what was another regular day into a horrible one because you can't stop thinking about what was said and how much it hurt, analyzing why they would say something like that and worrying about how to deal with it.   On the other hand, consider how a compliment or uplifting word from that same co-worker or friend can bring you out of a slump.  Isn't it better to focus our thoughts and words on positive, uplifting views of the world and others?  Nobody is perfect, and we all have bad days. We all judge others sometimes and put ourselves before others because we are human, but we do have the choice each day to direct our thoughts one way or the other.  We can choose to use our tongues for good not evil.  Thinking about what we say before we say it is key in this situation.  If our thoughts are always on the negative, then those are the type of words that will flow from our mouths hurting not only others, but also ourselves.  Who wants to be miserable all the time?  Those who put their mind on miserable things each day will be miserable people to be around and in turn affect others miserably.  It's time to put our mind on things above like love, kindness, and consideration of others before ourselves.  I choose to use the power of my tongue for life, not death, to uplift and not to put down. Won't you choose that today too and make the world a much happier and more uplifting place?