day 1331: It Just Slipped Out

"Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?...No, you can't draw fresh water from a salty pool."

The news is aflutter about the Pope's word slip. His slip has reminded me of the time I had a business meeting with someone who I know, but don't know all that well. He now represents a financial institution but also is involved in a faith-based for-profit business at a very high level of influence and responsibility. We were having a business meeting over coffee. I was getting briefed on the faith-based business but we were also catching up on how he was doing in a new venture, etc. In the course of the conversation, over an hour or so, he allowed himself to slip out three epitaphs, which were of the non-FCC allowed kinds. Like most of us, we are used to this in business and seldom am I personally phased by any and all of what comes from someones mouth. I can't be judgmental because I have been guilty way too many times in my own career. For years, I will admit that certain four-letter words rolled off my tongue without thought or concern. Those days are thankfully past for me now. But still, I don't want to judge. However, in this situation I had with this person and the not so flattering attention that the Pope received, there is a lesson to be learned. As the executive sat across from me and gave me the update on the faith-based business, each time that one of the words would find their way into the conversation, for me, all credibility of everything else he shared would dissipate. It was like he was speaking two different languages and with each slip of his tongue, I could only hear what I thought was his true language coming through and it eroded his credibility as a leader of a faith-based business. 

As we read in the entire third chapter of James, the tongue is a mighty force and one not to be easily controlled or reckoned. My experience with this other person was exactly what James says in Chapter 3, verse 11-12: "Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?...No, you can't draw fresh water from a salty pool." All I could hear (taste) in our conversation was the salty and the brackish. Whatever was fresh and life-giving was tainted and ruined by the bitter salt. As each day is a new beginning and this is a day where with the removal of a few words (think about it...it's maybe two handful of words only) out of our vocabulary, we can assure that we are never spoiling fresh water or spoiling the other areas of our lives we are doing our best to work and live to God's purpose. Can we start today with not letting ourselves continue with the slips of our tongues?

Reference:  James 3:11-12 (New Living Translation)

day 56: Work Words, part 2 - Replacement Words

Yesterday we learned the simple truth that God does not want us using foul or abusive language in life or at work. A simple lesson for sure but not an easy one to follow and practice. It just seems like adding that certain word for emphasis or explanation helps make the point. But, when we take this path we are making both emotional and intellectual choices that have consequences. I think in most cases we are also taking the lazy path intellectually when we allow ourselves to use this language. The other day I overheard a conversation with two people where the description of one person by the other, to his face (which was representative of an anatomical part), expressed the point clearly but also created a heightened animosity and anger in the person who was being talked at and could have easily, if not for the control of the receiving person, come to blows. As I reflected on that conversation, the person delivering the message may have felt more powerful but in reality, this very intellectual person had lowered himself to a base level and chosen the laziest of words to express his point of view and left the conversation in a worse place than it was before, all because of the words chosen. If we are not to use foul or abusive language, what words are we then to choose to replace these words? Ephesians 4:29 concludes with; "Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them". We are to take the higher ground. We are to work harder intellectually and emotionally to find the place and the words that can still bring across the point but leave the other person or parties in a better emotional state. As I think back on the confrontation I witnessed, there was another way to have made the point. It would have taken the person who was expressing the point of view to have found another emotional footing to stand on, and then to have intellectually have thought through how it would be that he could build up the other person and still ensure that the lesson was given. It could have been done and knowing the situation, good could have come from what was initially bad and unfortunately after this conversation got worse. God wants us to use the faith that we have in Him, the power that He has put inside of us, and the love that He modeled, to be different than the rest of the world. That can start today, at work, with you and the words that you choose. Today would be a good day to start thinking and using the replacement words that He can give you. You and all others around you will be better for it.

Reference: Ephesians 4:29 (New Living Testament)

day 55: Work Words, part 1 - No Nos

This is pretty straightforward. Let's choose more carefully the words we use at work. We all know the statement, "he curses like a sailor". How does one become a sailor? A sailor becomes a sailor because he/she applies for a sailor job or joins the Navy to take the job of a sailor. So, the cursing of the sailor is referencing the cursing that occurs on the job. Yes, work for some reason is an easy place for the words of a sailor to become common language. I have been there and I have gone through stages in my career where I might as well have quit my job and joined the Navy. If we are trying to infuse our purpose into our work and we are trying to be the examples of how one is to supposed to live in a larger context then the words we choose to use at work need to be consistent with the life we are wanting to live. Paul makes it clear in Ephesians 4:29; "Don't use foul or abusive language." Clear enough? There is lots to learn and study on self-control and the taming of our tongues and how for some this takes God really helping out. But wherever you are and however hard or easy it is for you to control your language, it is an important lesson to remember. We are to live our lives in the example of the One who gave us His example to follow. And when the moment comes where the expletive is the most cultural, hippest and for some reason the most powerful word we can think of, then we need to think again and bite that tongue before we let the words roll out. Once out they can't be rolled back in. Today, say a prayer before heading to work that God will give you different words today to replace those that come most easily. Ask Him to give you new work words and to send the words of the sailors out to sea.
Tomorrow, words to use as replacements.

Reference: Ephesians 4:29 (New Living Testament)