Hearers

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.  Ephesians 4:29

If you played back the words you spoke today, would they be words worth hearing?  Did they encourage someone, or discourage?  Did they build someone up or were your words used to tear down?

Did they bless others?

Did they bless you?

That's how God spoke to my heart today through this verse.  Often, we quote this verse as a reminder of how we should speak towards others, but I had to ask myself, "As a listener to my own words, did I encourage myself or discourage myself?  Did I tear myself down, or did I build myself up?

God's word tells us that we are 'fearfully and wonderfully made,' so don't let the disappointments in life make you think that you are a failure.

There is an Amish Proverb that says, 'When you speak, always remember that God is one of your listeners.'  But let me add, so are you.

So, as a Child of God, what have you been telling yourself lately?

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."  Mother Teresa

Each word spoken, should be golden.  To those around us and to ourselves.

    But that's just me!

"The Golden Rule is a two-edged sword.  If some of us treated others as we treat ourselves, we would be jailed."  (Excerpt from The Mistletoe Promise.  Elise Dutton's Diary, by Richard Paul Evans, 2014 

Simon & Schuster)