Ouch!

Ouch!

The lips of the godly speak helpful words, but the mouth of the wicked speaks perverse words.

Proverbs 10:32

Last week I opened the cupboard above the stove and was nearly assaulted by a bottle of Tabasco sauce. As it tumbled out, it missed me and shattered on the ceramic stove top below. Or that’s what I thought at first. Closer inspection revealed that the little bottle of hot sauce was still in perfect condition. What had shattered was not the bottle but the ceramic stove top! When I searched the web to see whether it could be replaced, I found this piece of sage advice: “Ceramic stove tops are very fragile. Never store anything above them.” Now you tell me! After more research and a couple of phone calls, I discovered that repairing the stove would cost more than it was worth. I couldn’t help concluding that the little bottle of Tabasco sauce was the most expensive condiment I had ever purchased.

I have come to realize that most of us, like ceramic stove tops, are far more fragile than we may appear. I have an elderly friend who is slipping into dementia. Invariably kind throughout the years I have known her, she is starting to take on a more belligerent tone. The other day, when I was thinking my hair looked exceptionally nice, she told me that it looked awful—terrible, in fact—assuring me that she was only informing me because it is always important to tell the truth.

A couple of days later, my daughter celebrated her fifteenth birthday. Her big gift was a longish down coat that would keep her warm in subzero temperatures. She and I had gone shopping together, and she selected a coat the same color and cut as mine. When I made the mistake of commenting that we would now look like twins, she blurted out that she didn’t want to look so old. Now I was not just a woman with bad hair, but an old woman with bad hair! Ouch!

Words can tumble from our mouths much like that Tabasco sauce, doing more damage than we might imagine. I have to wonder how often my own words have landed on someone else’s fragile heart, shattering his or her sense of well-being. Today I pray for the grace to choose my words more carefully.

Father, help me today to think about every word that comes out of my mouth. Let me speak only what is helpful and leave the rest unsaid.