Today we attended an Open House for my daughters sister-in-law, who recently graduated from college. The food was excellent, the company was delightful and the dessert was cupcakes iced in red and blue.
The first young lady to greet me as we approached the group gathered in the yard, had a lovely smile with bright red teeth and lips. Yup, she had just finished a cupcake. Next, I watched as a woman I do not know bite into a blue iced cupcake. That was even worse. Teeth, gums, lips...all blue. The best laugh of all was when my mother and her husband, oblivious to all of the staining, enjoyed their blue cupcakes. My mom especially was just covered with blue icing. Not only her mouth, but a smear on her cheek made her look like she was playing Indians and got carried away with her war paint. We all laughed and her dear husband gently cleaned her face for her.
Somehow I wish that all food that was not so good for me, would stain my mouth so I wouldn't eat it and risk the embarrassment. It would sure make it easier to say no to the wrong food choices, wouldn't it?
Along the same line of thinking, our pastor had a message this morning on the tongue. You know, how such a small body part has so much control? He asked us to examine our words. What if our mouths were stained each time we spoke unkind words? Would we be more careful about what we said?
I suspect we would.
From the Message-James 3:7-10 "This is scary:You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue-it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!"
Our mouths can get us into all kinds of trouble. Not just what we eat, but what we say as well.
I hope that you, like me, will think twice before overindulging in goodies. But even more, I hope that you will think twice before unkind words are allowed to leave your lips.
Remember the icing stain? Unkind words and lies, gossip or back-biting, all leave a stain too. Only this is the stain of sin. Although it may not be as obvious as the stained teeth and lips I saw today, God sees the stain very clearly and only He can wash it away.
My prayer for you is that you will choose to let Him do just that.
Blessings,
Queen Dee
