Power of your tongue

At the night, I used the new train line to travel to home. I thanked God for comfortable and cool journey as I do not have to worry about travelling to school under the hot sun. The new train station is near my school now. After I hit the shower, my voice brought up the conversation with my mum to discuss the time of going to the clinic to wash my hand wound the next day. I gently signaled out the reminder about the acnes on my face. But I received the annoying and irritated response. She complained that I am still under medication and have to wait till my hand is healed completely because we had spent much money on hospital bill. And new medicine for my acnes might complicate and worsen the wound. My father has not given her financial support. "See, she broke her promise again. She still doesn't admit it," kept haunting my mind and my mouth was forced to shut tightly."The more you talk, the more likely you are to sin." (Pr 10:19) This time, my spirit was crushed with great damage even though I am used to her old habit of breaking promises. "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit." (Pr 15:4) But I learnt something new. My mouth has the power to affect another person's overall being, spirituality and physically. For example, if I hurt him with words, he will be hurt in the spirit. When he is down, he may entertain the thought of committing suicide or deteriorate his health by heavy drinking. I am hurting him physically too. So likewise, using the good words can improve his overall being. "Jesus said to the fig tree, 'No one shall ever eat figs from you again!' Early next morning, as they walked along the road, they saw the fig tree. It was dead all the way down to its roots. Peter remembered what had happened and said to Jesus, 'Look, Teacher, the fig tree you cursed has died!' " (Mark 11:14, 20-21)

Consequence of what you speak.
Of course, we have to be extremely careful with what we speak. I often sensed that the senior techican in my school workshop, whispered curses on his mouth whenever the people came to him for assistance. It reminded me of this verse. "No one has ever been able to tame the tongue. It is evil and uncontrollable, full of deadly poison." (James 3:8)
Jesus said, "How can you say good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of?" (Matt 12:34) Thus, we will face the judgment of what speak. "You can be sure that on Judgment Day everyone will have to give account of every useless word he has ever spoken. Your words will be used to judge you - to declare you either innocent or guilty." (Matt 12:36-37) I admit that I had spoken a lot of bad words when I was young. But it was in the past. For now onwards, I will strive hard to speak more good words and praise God on my mouth with all my might. "Avoid the passions of youth, and strive for righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who with a pure heart call out to the Lord for help." (2 Tim 2:22)