Training Little Lips
Several weeks ago, as Ray and I stood at a receptionist’s station, I noticed that she kept a Bible reference handy.
Evidently other stresses of her day were bothering her, because at one point during our completely calm interactions, she said, “My nerves are shot.”
I said, “I noticed your Bible verse.”
“Oh yeah, I’ve got to have it,” she replied with conviction.
I later looked up the verse. It reads:
The one who guards his mouth preserves his life;
The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
Proverbs 13:3
Helen Keller, who was blind and deaf, reads the lips
of First Lady Grace Coolidge in January 1926.
I can see why Proverbs 13:3 would often come in handy for a person who interacts day after day with people who have a multitude of needs. I understand why she said, “I’ve got to have it.” I can also see that we all have “got to have it”—we grownups and also the children we are responsible to train.
To train lips, we must train hearts, our own and our children’s. Jesus said:
But the things that proceed out of the mouth
come from the heart, and those defile the man.
Matthew 15:18
God wants our speech to be wholesome and truthful.
For, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days,
Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.”
1 Peter 3:10
Our words must be wise, and our teaching kind.
She opens her mouth in wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
Proverbs 31:26
Teaching our children to speak well can even affect their ability to earn a livelihood.
With the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach will be satisfied;
He will be satisfied with the product of his lips.
Proverbs 31:20
Our words can cause harm in many ways. This poster created during World War II warned of one way:
However, our words can also be a balm of healing for others. That’s the kind of words we want to say and the kind of words we want our children to say.
There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword,
But the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Proverbs 12:18
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth,
but only such a word as is good for edification
according to the need of the moment,
so that it will give grace to those who hear.
Ephesians 4:29