Our Tongues Need to be Checked

James 3:2  “We all stumble in many ways.  If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”

 Lord, for someone who talks all day to make a living, I certainly understand this verse,  I have to be mindful of every word I say and also the ones I write in emails.  At home with my husband and family, I tend to become more careless.  Lord, help me!  I need to be as careful, or even more so, at home with the ones You have given me to love and nurture.

 I told the children growing up what lots of parents tell their children, “If you can’t cay something nice, don’t say anything at all.”  After I accepted Your grace gift of salvation something else was added.  “If what you are going to say is not true, kind, and necessary…do not speak at all.”  How often do I grieve You, Lord as under the guise of offering a prayer request I, gossip, malign, and in other ways sin with my tongue?  Maybe I have spewed my bitterness over the way I, or one of my loved ones, have been treated, or have said things about the way things are going at work.  Lord, forgive me!

 My husband would have no idea how things are going at work, or may not even know the people I work with unless I come home and tell him.  He would  have no idea how I was treated or what someone said at church or in the grocery store if I didn’t tell him when I came home.  Therefore; what he thinks of those folks depends on what I say.  I do not ever want him to have a tainted view or perspective.  Lord, put a guard over my mouth and tongue.  Put Praise and gratitude where once there was venom.