Lessons learned

Lately, Stephen and I have had several talks about what it means to be in control of our words and "taming our tongues". He has a habit of just talk-talk-talking all.day.long, especially when he's mad or upset. He talks so much that he frequently says things he shouldn't. When he gets to that point, he "loses the privilege to talk" for a while and must keep all thoughts and comments to himself. It's been fairly effective in making him think about what he wants to say instead of just saying anything that comes to mind. But it's definitely a work in progress and I realize that it's a lesson learned over time and with a dash of maturity.

So. Last week, I had a huge blister on the inside of my lip. It hurt to talk. And now that it's all healed up, I have some kind of sore on my tongue on the opposite side of where the blister was. Now it really hurts to talk. So much so, that I try my hardest not to. And when I do, I talk funny and everyone's been asking me to repeat myself. They don't get a second chance, because I'm not opening my mouth again. I only say things that are truly important and need to be heard. It's been a nice little lesson, because I think I might be figuring out where Stephen gets his diarrhea of the mouth verbosity.

A few days ago, Sweet Hubby and I saw a friend from church in the grocery store. We stopped and chatted for a while. As we were walking away, I slapped my forehead and asked Hubby if I talk too much. He said no, but I'm thinking he was probably wisely avoiding the landmine I had just laid out for him. The thing is, I often walk away from conversations slapping my forehead and wanting to kick my own behind because I felt like I talked too much. There have more times than I can count that I have yelled at my self internally, "Just SHUT UP already!!"

So, because of this monster on my tongue, I've lost the privilege to talk. Interesting, huh? I talk to the kids all day long, and most of it is important. We talk about all sorts of things and Stephen has been asking lots of questions lately, especially questions about God. So we have to talk. But outside of those conversations, I'm seeing how much I say that is unimportant. I'm filling their ears with nothing but words, and they are reflecting that. I had no idea that I had a need to tame my own tongue. I get it now. It's definitely something that I need to work on.

Let's just hope that the kids don't catch on too quickly and start to take advantage of this.