BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY – AND SPEAK SOFTLY
Psalm 34:13
“Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips
from speaking deceit.”
“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, but the mouth
of fools spout folly.”
There is something nurturing and
calming about someone who speaks very softly.
For most of my life, I assumed that this was a quality you either had or
didn’t have – you were born with a soft voice or you weren’t. And, to some degree, this may be true. However, in recent years I’ve discovered that
speaking softly is a quality you can develop.
If you do, I think you’ll agree that the rewards are tremendous and
measurable. These rewards will have a
positive effect on the love in your family and in your home.
When
you speak too quickly and with a loud voice, the energy you send out into the
world (or into your home) can be somewhat frantic or nervous. Although your intentions may be different,
it’s sometimes the case that the people around you will feel pressured or
slightly agitated, which can, in turn, unconsciously encourage them to act even
more hyper and irritated themselves. If you send a message of impatience and
agitation, you may be, without even realizing it, lessening the feelings of
love, calmness, and respect in your home.
Obviously,
everyone has a different voice, an individual temperament, and a unique
communication style. I am not suggesting
that you (or anyone else) completely transform the way you speak, or that you
pretend that you are someone you are not.
What I am proposing is simply that you try to become a little more
conscious about how your voice is being received by those around you. And, that if you make a gentle effort to
speak a little more softly you might discover some surprising, almost instant,
changes in the feelings around your home.
You,
for example, will feel calmer and less stressed. As you quiet down your voice, you will
actually relax the rest of your body, as well as your mind. Next, you will discover that as you quiet
down, everyone around you will quickly follow suit. When my children were small, instead of
yelling at them, I would whisper. The
wonderful thing that happened was that they had to quiet down to hear what I
was saying.
You
need to be careful about your thoughts because the Scripture tells us that “From the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaketh.” Which is saying, whatever you are
thinking about will eventually come out of your mouth.
That can be good or bad, depending on what you have been thinking about.
Take
your thoughts captive – make your voice softer – and see what a difference it
will make in your home and in your self.
REMEMBER: You are in training to rule and reign with
