Seeing the Face of Christ in Our Workplace--Tuesday, March 27

James 3:5-12

⁵So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! ⁶And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. ⁷For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, ⁸but no one can tame the tongue — a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. ¹¹Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? ¹²Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

The message is simple.  The implementation is difficult at best.  We must take care with the words we speak and how we say them.  We must be sure the message we send is the message we want received.  What one person perceives as a joke may be received in a hurtful way.  Tone of voice can convey a powerful message.  Words – once spoken – cannot be pulled back.  Words we never get tired of hearing are words of kindness and consideration – Please, Thank you, How kind of you.  No one wants to hear in words or tone-of-voice a “you dummy” attitude. 

I am reminded of a story – Nail in the Fence.  It came to me several years ago over the internet.  There once was a little boy (or girl) who had a bad temper.  His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.  The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.  Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down.  He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.  Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all.  He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.  The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.  The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.  The father said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence.  The fence will never be the same.  When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one.  You can cut a man with a knife.  It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there.  A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.  Friends are very rare jewels, indeed.  They make you smile and encourage you to succeed.  They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us.” 

Kathy Hibbs

For reflection:

Why are words so powerful?

What are some of the techniques you use to keep from uttering words that you might later regret…and how does your faith factor into this equation?

How have you been hurt by the words of others…and how have you hurt others through your words?