Choice of Words

This morning has been enlightening. How often do we think about what we are saying? I sat listening to my precious 6 year old struggling to use words because of his lack of two front teeth. He already has an issue that sounds like stuttering when his brain cannot catch up to his mouth, so these missing teeth are really giving him a hard time. As I listened to him, I thought about my own words and others and how they seem so darn easy to come off the tongue even though we should be struggling to say them.
I think of Ricky and growing up. How many times did I sit at the bus stop and hear them calling him names! "Retard" and words that truly are obscenities. Such a sweet sweet fella. He did nothing wrong. He stood on the corner reading (normally it was the Bible or dictionary- wise beyond words if you ask me) and shouting about what he was reading. I remember being quiet and thinking how wrong it was that those other kids would be mean to him. Until one day when Marcie and I had had enough and we stood up to those kids and told them that what they were doing was wrong. It felt good to stand up for what I believed in, and I always thought he appreciated what we did in the long run (probably doesn't even remember it, but I hope he does).
Now, I type about this and think about things I say on a daily basis that can be considered a bad choice. I'm not the only one. I hear it in the grocery store when mother's get frazzled with their kids. I hear it on the way to school or even at dance or a sporting event. It's everywhere.

Ephesians 4:29
"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear"

Let's work on our tongues today. That we build up instead of tearing down. That we don't say something that we know isn't appropriate. Yes, another resolution, but is it? hee hee