Speech
“Seems we have tamed everything with the exception of our tongues; that is to say many of us are good at bringing discipline to almost all areas of our life with the EXCEPTION of our speech…” Rick Cox
The importance of your speech, what you say or better yet, what you verbalize, CANNOT be overstated. What you say and how you say it will affect every aspect of your life. It will not only have an effect on you today it will affect all of your tomorrows. If you have been reading these inspirations for a while you may remember mention of my High School English Teacher, Ms. Grace Fredrick. She was a remarkable person with an incredible vocabulary. She had the ability to put you in your place without the use of colorful language, four letter words, yelling or even raising her voice. She felt the use of four letter words showed a lack of sophistication as well as a poor understanding of the use of the English or any language for that matter. She was right. One of the foremost business philosophers, Jim Rohn, concurs. He also feels the use of frivolous language is unnecessary and most unsophisticated.
It wasn’t until my early twenties, when I began to listen to motivational speakers teaching of the importance of the spoken word during every day conversation, that I came to realize the power of words as well as the influence that MY SPEECH was having on MY LIFE.
It is true, what we say can have a negative effect on all relationships, but what is most important is the effect your words are having on YOU! For if you will take care of yourself then you will by default take care of others as well. When you are focused enough to watch what you say about yourself you will also be focused enough to watch what you say about others. Solomon knew the power, which resided in our words and felt it important enough to write about it. He makes reference to words, speech, mouth and tongue over one hundred thirty five times.
According to Solomon, words can bring health:
“The tongue of the wise brings healing…”
“A faithful ambassador (word) brings healing…”
Words can bring death or life:
“Death & life are in the power of the tongue…”
“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life…”
Words can help feed you:
“The lips of those who speak right will feed many…”
“A man may live by the fruit of his tongue, his lips earning him a livelihood…”
Words can give one favor:
“The words of a wise man’s mouth win him favor…”
“Those who speak right are the delight of those in leadership…”
Words can bring destruction:
“The mouth of the foolish hastens his ruin…”
“He that watches over and is careful about what he says is ensuring a better life;
he that talks all the time will soon come to destruction…”
Words can bring happiness:
“To make an apt answer is a joy to a man; and a word spoken in season is good…”
“Heaviness in the heart makes it stoop but a good word makes it happy and glad…”
From the above what we learn is we can speak many things “INTO EXISTENCE” in our lives. What we learn is we can use speech to bring about what we do not want or what we do want. This is almost overwhelming to comprehend yet it is the truth. It is most unfortunate that for the most part we are not taught in school or at home, the importance of speech, the use of wrong and right words, the right tone, the right inflection, and the right attitude or the emotion during our speaking. I say this because it should be quite obvious to you by now how each of these play a big part in our health and wealth, our sorrow and joy, our failure or success, and our death or life.
I am fairly good at not speaking negatively about my life or others. As you have heard me say before, I refrain from making references to death or starving or other negative connotations, but I have not been so good when it comes to utilizing the purity of the English language to its fullest. I occasionally resort to unfavorable language, which is not necessary, and could be expressed in a more efficient and effective way if I simply disciplined my tongue. Truth is many of us like the initial inner feeling we get when being loud, boisterous or using foul language. The reason is it seems to take the anger out of us when we speak it about or towards others as it leaves us with the result of feeling better. Long term however, it does not convey the message we intended with the result usually inflicting damage into the hearts of one or both. Words spoken in anger almost always do more harm than good.
Now let me share a little secret with you. Like everything else in life, when you decide you are going to change in one way shape of form, YOUR DECISION will be tested. Likewise, if you choose to clean up your speech, your commitment and follow through will be tested. I am not sure I could count the times I have “decided” to clean up my speech only to find I have the worst “potty mouth” I have ever had the day I made the commitment or at the latest the following day. I am not proud of this, but none the less it happens and will more than likely happen to you as well.
Life is a process of learning and growing. What I have learned however is this: a quality decision to clean up your speech will end the process of stopping and starting over and over. I know I have not made this commitment when it comes to speech. I have often thought this might be to me like cigarettes seems to be to others. I like it even though I know it is not good for me nor is it good for those who hear it. Apparently, this is “one more item” to add to the list of things I need to work on. At times it seems this list gets longer rather than shorter.
Best of LUCK as you
Labor Under Correct Knowledge…
Respectfully,
Rick Cox