And Now, Mr. Mayor

And Now, Mr. Mayor

If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.

James 1:26

My athletic prowess knows no bounds. Unfortunately, my best talent seems to be tripping over my tongue. I go along quite well for some time, and then one day I open my big mouth and insert my foot right up to my ankle. And while I’m busy choking on my foot, I also manage to offend someone important to me. I’m really good at it, too, because I’ve had a lot of practice through the years. Sigh.

The Bible cautions us to control our tongues, probably because God knew that it would be one of our most difficult tasks as fallible human beings, as this story demonstrates:

When her boys were very small, Mrs. Johnson gave a party at which one of the guests was to be the mayor. The boys were to be brought in, introduced, and ushered out.

Mrs. Johnson’s great fear was the possibility that Tory, the more outspoken of her two boys, might comment rudely about the mayor’s celebrated and conspicuous ears. So beforehand she explained to Tory that personal observations were impolite and cautioned against his making any comment about the mayor’s ears, no matter what he might think of them.

When the moment came and the boys were brought in, Mrs. Johnson held her breath as she saw Tory’s gaze fix upon the mayor’s prominent feature and remain there. Nonetheless, the introduction was made without incident. The little boys came in, were introduced, bowed politely, and were sent on their way.

With a sigh of relief, Mrs. Johnson turned back to her duties as hostess and inquired of her guest, “And now, Mr. Mayor, will you have cream or lemon in your ears?”

Father, please help me to be careful about the things I say in every situation. I want my words always to glorify you. Amen.