You Will Eat Your Words

Every so often I do a little exercise a couple months out of the year with life's good ol' instruction book, The Bible. Proverbs is perfectly sectioned into 31 chapters and if you dedicate time to reading a Proverb a day, you will receive in return a month rewarded by peace and contentment. I'm not kidding, try it. Nothing soothes the soul like a month of Proverbs.

So, earlier this week on the 18th of September, I turned my well-used, broken-in Bible to Proverbs 18 and halted my inner voice on Verse 21. I read it over and over again until I was inspired to share with you its message meant for us all:

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it (for death or life)." - Proverbs 18:21

To all of you who, like me, have eaten our words a time or two in our lives, I invite you to dwell on this Verse. Recite it over and over again until it begins to sink in deep within the caverns of our soul and roots itself into the core of our being. Until we realize the power of our words, we will not want to tame our tongue. When we speak, we are either giving life to future blessings or we are squashing them. When you speak badly of someone or something or if you fill your mouth with negativity, you are damning yourself. The worst part is, if you're paying attention, you know it. That strange weird feeling you get in the pit of your stomach is conviction, knowing that what you are speaking is not good for anyone, and especially not you.


The sour words we speak will, no doubt, deliver to us a bitter result. But, if we speak words of encouragement, the blessings will be sweet. We have free will, we get to choose. Gain control of your mouth and you can gain control of your life through the promises of God. Think about it.

To keep my mouth at bay, I use this little checklist for "THINK". I committed it to memory and when I have an opinion to share, I immediately go to this list first and it helps me to not be in a position where I might have to eat my words later. I have a sweet tooth so let's leave any bitterness at the gate of the throat, not allowing it to spill out over the tongue.

THINK not only applies to how you speak to others, but how you speak to yourself. If you're spouting words like "I'll never be happy" or "I'll never see my dreams come true" or "I just can't do it", then, you know what? You are right. You have spoken those words and the power contained in those words make it so. When you start speaking to yourself in an inspiring and kind way, you will begin to believe that you can do the things you are speaking so positively about. The power of those words will begin to work on your mind to believe in what you desire, which will translate into seeing good results in your life. Watch those powerful words and choose them wisely. And always remember the choice we sometimes forget we have: silence.


Have your words ever gotten you into trouble? Are you ready to take control?