As heard on KLOVE Jan 2010; excerpted from Self Talk, Soul Talk by Jennifer Rothschild (Harvest House, 2007)
The older I get, the more frequently the words of my sweet, Southern grandmother echo through my thought closet. “Mama” taught me a lot through her words and her life. I giggle now at one of her stern admonishments to me when I was just a little girl. With her small voice and southern drawl, she would often say, “Honey, don’t ever watch so-poppers.”
As a young girl I vowed I would not—even though I had no idea what in the world “so-poppers” were. I did notice that each time my petite Mama preached her anti-so-popper doctrine she was sipping a Coca Cola and watching Days of Our Lives or All My Children. Not until I was a young adult did I finally realize what she was actually warning me against. As thick as sweet southern molasses, her Georgia accent had swallowed up the words soap operas. That’s great advice from my grandmother, but even greater wisdom comes from her favorite psalm. She quoted it to me often.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight,
O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14 KJV).
My precious Mama knew the power of words, and she wanted her granddaughter to know that power also. The writer of Proverbs tells us that the words of the wise are persuasive, that a person’s words can be life-giving water, and that wise speech is rarer than gold and rubies. Are we to take the Bible literally here? More rare than gold or rubies? How many rubies have you seen lying around lately? How often have you felt the weight of a 100-percent gold coin in the palm of your hand? I do believe Solomon is saying that truly wise and prudent speech is that rare. When you hear it, you know it, and you marvel.
Did you realize that your words could have such an impact?
In the pages of this book, my premise is that some of the most powerful words we utter are words no one else ever hears. They are the words we speak to ourselves. Why do we speak them? Why, in particular, do we speak negative, unproductive things to ourselves? We say them because they have found shelf space in our thought closets, and we find them near to hand in those moments when we are inclined to slander ourselves. These are the kinds of words that haunt us and plague us for years on end. But, we want our words to be “acceptable” to God-He is our Standard for truthful soul talk. And He can be our source for truthful soul talk—He is our “strength and Redeemer.”
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