I ran across this article just recently and I thought I'd share it with you.

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CAREFUL WHAT I SAY

Psalm 39:1  I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

One day I met a friend out walking his dog.  I was surprised to see the animal wearing a muzzle.

"Does he bite?" I asked. The man laughed.

"No, he isn't dangerous.  But he loves to bark.  I got so tired of hearing his voice that I bought this muzzle.  I only put it on him when I want peace and quiet."

David faced a similar problem.  He had an unruly tongue.  He spoke of his determination to keep his mouth shut as if he were wearing a bridle, or muzzle, as the word could be better translated.

In one of his poems,  Will Carleton tells of a young couple who struggled to start a ranch in Indiana.  One day the man came home and discovered that the cows had strayed away.  Angrily he asked his wife why she hadn't watched them,  and accused her of sitting around all day,  leaving him with the work.  Before going after the cows,  he saw by her face that his cruel words had wounded her feelings.  Only his pride kept him from saying,  "I'm sorry."

A few days later he came home again and found the cows out of the corral.  On the kitchen table lay a note from his wife saying she had gone to find them,  and asking forgiveness if she had failed to do her part.

While reading the note the man heard a distant rumble of thunder.  A severe storm was coming.  After putting on heavy boots and raincoat,  he lighted the lantern and hurried into the night to find his wife.  Rain fell in torrents as he walked, frantically calling her name.  Toward morning the storm passed,  and the rancher returned to his cabin.  To his horror he found his wife laying dead on the doorstep and the cows in the corral.  He never knew how she had gotten them back.

Many years later the rancher expressed his feelings in these words:

"Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds,

You can't do that when you're flying words...

Thoughts un-expressed sometimes fall back dead,

But God Himself can't kill them once they're said."

Let us, like David, ask the Lord to help us control our tongues.

--Virgil Robinson, Reach Out, January 6, 1970-------------------

Acts 10:43 Acts 13:38

Acts 26:18

Ephesians 1:7

Colossians 1:13-15

Hebrews 9:22

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My philosophy has always been this...If you cannot say something good, you are probably better off not to say it. It will come back to bite you, sooner or later. ALP is a big community, and what we say gets around quickly. We need to be wise, like David, and watch our words.

Jim,

Yes, we all should pay attention to your reminder.  Here's a scripture to the point:

Ephesians 4: 29, "Let a rotten saying not proceed out of YOUR mouth, but whatever saying is good for building up as the need may be, that it may impart what is favorable to the hearers."

And maybe even for some people:

Ephesians 4: 31, "Let all malicious bitterness and anger and wrath and screaming and abusive speech be taken away from YOU along with all badness. "

Terry

Thanks Terry, if anyone else has a text to share along these lines, I'd like to hear it!!

Hello Jim,

What a wonderful story, so sad but so true.........

Hi Jo, sometimes we forget who we are talking to, and we also forget that even though we are online, we can offend others by something we say.