Idle Words

For the entire 3 years that my sister was in Virgina for school, we spoke on the phone at least 4 times a day.  She called me on the way to class, on the way back from class, on the way to work, and on the way home from work. We talked about 5 year plans (she had many), and stories from work. We talked about Heather and Molly. We planned her entire wedding in 4 months, with 600 miles between us.

When the wedding was over, and she went back to school, we were a bit worried that we wouldn't have anything to talk about.  Somehow, we found stuff, and our daily conversations resumed as normal. Every once in a while she'd bring up something she'd learned in class, or heard in convocation, and we'd have a deep conversation about something spiritual. 

Last year, when she finally graduated, she and Matt came home and moved in with me while they were looking for jobs and grad school and an apartment. Before she found a job, I saw her every day, all day. Our baby sister was there as well, and we all ate together, watched TV together, played scrabble together. There was a lot of togetherness.

She found a job, about an hour away from my house, and the first day she went to work, she called me on the way. Despite the fact that she had just left my house. As soon as I saw her name on my caller ID, I realized how much I missed her. It was a bit ridiculous, given that I had seen her every single day for 2 months.

Sometimes togetherness doesn't mean connection. We were used to talking to each other about life, not living it right next to one another.

Last night, we were talking about the benefits of attending the same church, even though we go to different services. One of the big ones is being able to talk about things of Christ. Hearing the same songs and same sermon gives us a jumping off point to talk about important things. Even though we talk multiple times a day, it's not always important. Somehow spiritual conversations still seem to be a "sometimes" thing for us.

Probably because I'm not very good at spiritual conversations. I can talk, for sure, about pretty much anything. But I don't usually talk about what God is doing in my life, or in the lives of people around me. It's takes me awhile to experience something and process it, and then to get it into words. I have to think on things, and figure them out in my head, and then figure out how to express what I figured out to others. It's quite a long process.

God tells us to "fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on their foreheads. Teach them to your children, talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates.." (Dt 11: 18-20)

This tells me that instead of talking about my day, or my struggles, or my dreams, I should be talking about the Word of God. The Love of God. The Grace of God. Salvation. Mercy. Truth.  Talking about such things shouldn't be a struggle, because His Word should be hidden in my heart.

Colossians 3:16 says " Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.."

This next one really hits me.  "But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken." (Mt 12:36)

The greek word for "careless" is argos, and it means "idle, lazy, useless, ineffective".  A lot of my words and conversations are all of those things.

There's an idiom about idle hands being the devils tools, and I tend to think that idle words would be equally high on the list of things he can use to bring about his evil purposes.

When we talk about Christ, and what He's done, and how He's working, the devil has no foothold. He can't get into our conversation, because it's filled with Christ already.

When we talk about, well, just about anything else, there's usually a door left open for the devil and all his 'devil badness' to get in there somehow.

Proverbs 18:21 says that the tongue has the power of life and death.

I want my tongue to bring life. Life to those I know, and those I don't know.  To my sisters, my friends, my parents, strangers, coworkers, children. When I talk about my day, I want to make sure the listener knows that it's so much better because God is in it. When I talk about my struggles, I want the listener to know that I have faith in the God of Hope who will see me through anything.

And when idle words pass my lips, I'm thankful that my sister can, and does, tell me to shut up. :)

Be blessed this week, and use your words wisely.

Brooke