“WATCH YOUR MOUTH!”

Growing up the oldest of six kids, I was always a bit precocious. Ours was a vocal family. I quickly learned, after being an only child for the first three years of my life, I was going to have to be quicker, even louder, than my sibling competition.

I was never what most would call rebellious. I was busy, easily bored, without the electronic stimulation and addiction of today’s children. I was always eager to make my opinion known . . . loudly and passionately.

“Watch your mouth,” was a frequent warning given by my overworked, stay-at-home mother, herself a smart, vocal woman.

And when her frustration with her brood of five boys and one girl reached a boiling point, rather than physical correction, she loudly warned, “Just wait till your father gets home.”

It must have been confusing for my hard-working father when his children scattered like spooked chickens at the sound of his truck pulling into the drive way. I can, even now, hear his big sigh knowing he was going to have to make attitude adjustments to one or more of his wayward kids.

As I See It, our words are more than just sounds we use to communicate in infancy. As emerging young adults, it’s the words we blurted out that revealed our true intentions, motivations, and attitude.

My generation’s verbal expressions of frustration and anger were expected to done with respect for other people. We were taught to try to understand the thinking and motives of the targets of our criticism.

As I See It, much of the public discourse on ALL TOPICS is designed to offend in attempts to recruit the masses to one viewpoint or the other. Bullying is no longer reserved for the school playground. Social Media, as well as film and television entertainment, have been hijacked as bully pulpits to wound and silence the opposition.

That flexible muscle sitting behind your teeth has the power of any comic book super-hero to make a lasting impact of the lives of others. Some unappreciated sage once warned me, “Be sure to get your brain in gear before you put your mouth in motion.”

One New Testament writer put it this way: “…take ships for instance. Although they are so large…they are steered by a very small rudder. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but makes great boasts. Consider this, a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.” James 3:4-5

Like it or not . . . deny the consequences of your words spoken deliberately or off-the-cuff . . . your tongue has “the power of life and death.” (Proverbs 18:21)

I frequently joke, “I speak sarcasm fluently.” It is the innumerable ironies of life from which I draw for humor and laughs.

However, I must be just as eager to bridle my tongue when it comes to the humiliation of others. Like one psalmist of old, I need to say “Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.” (King David, Psalm 141:3)