Words From The Heart

A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit. (Proverbs 15:4)

Have you ever seen a mama cat licking her kittens? Sometimes she licks them to clean them…(Yuck) or licks their wounds to heal them, (probably not in the best veterinary treatment manuals).  But could it be that she licks them to comfort them...to show them affection? I’ll have to say that the kittens sure seem to enjoy it. Enough of this talk about licking…is this what a soothing tongue is all about? The writer of this proverb is referring to the words that roll off the tongue. Soothing, or comforting words, are good for us. Encouraging words are sustaining…they keep us going. Soothing words, according to the translators, actually are healing words. So I am provoked to ask myself the question…when I am hurting, what kind of words help me the most? What words do I need to hear? And more to the point, am I a person known for a soothing tongue, healing words, or something different? The contrast is perversion which is a twisting of something’s purpose. I am created to speak words that heal…not hurt. When I speak hurting words, it is like I stab and twist a knife into someone.  The writer says that I crush their spirit.  When I am perverted in my speech, I serve a different purpose, a twisted purpose, an evil purpose. Sometimes we may use our words to shame someone into behaving better. Sometimes we use words that wound because we are wounded ourselves. But when we wound because we are wounded, that does not help our healing…the scabs are torn off, the wound is reopened, and the process begins again. Interesting thing about scabs and scars. Scabs are the sign of a healing that is not yet healed. And scars are the evidence of healing of wounds inflicted long ago. Consider the scars upon the Lord. And consider His wounding. Consider His words. But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. (Matthew 15:18) When I speak words that do not heal…maybe the problem is with my heart.  The Lord can help us with that.