Acorn Build Up: Watch your mouth!

Watch your mouth!

Ephesians 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

"Watch your mouth!" is a phrase I remember from my youth. My memory of these words is pretty clear because I think I heard them often. The words that come out of our mouths can be terribly hurtful! The old "sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never harm me" is less than accurate in my experience. Words can hurt!

I was a freshman at a Big 10 university when I heard, "You can't write." He was a graduate assistant and I was his student in an English 101 class. The shame is that I believed him. It took me 11 English classes to break the hold those words had on me.

I was a junior at a different university when I heard, "You write well, but you just need some work on your grammar." She was a part-time teacher and I was her student in a special 099 English class for people that needed help to function at the college level. Those words had power. Three years later the faculty members overseeing my graduate work suggested that I needed to publish my writings!

Change a life, encourage someone with your words today.
Lon