Sweet Words

By now, the least favorite candy is picked through and reluctantly consumed. In my trick or treating days, it was the root beer flavored barrels and the taffy chews with the peanut butter center that remained. The chocolate was long gone. In fact, we sometimes didn't wait to get home for some--it was consumed while walking the Halloween sidewalks. With every doorbell and greeting, we'd check for that Hershey logo as it was tossed into our bag.

Then there was the house that always had homemade caramel corn balls. Which is a bad idea in Florida. By the time we got home, it was a sticky mess that attracted every lint molecule in the neighborhood--no matter how much plastic it was wrapped in!

Word would get around about which house has what. And the house with the party that left an honor system bowl? I pitied them for the tricks they endured when a not so honorable goblin took the whole bowl early in the evening.

Our pastor was talking about our words and how they are the fruit of our heart. What you say can be a clue to what is going on within.

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. Matthew 15:18 (ESV)

There are sweet words of encouragement or bitter words of judgment. Do you dole out kind words generously or do loved ones feel they need to jump through hoops to hear just one? You never know what's going on behind someone's mask. So before you speak, make sure it's something that is life-giving.

Beware of your words dear Christian. Like the unwanted trick or treat candy, you may have to eat them some day. Be sure that they are nourishing to the soul, not just a sweet treat that is gone in a moment. Consider them as treasures, to be shared in love.

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Proverbs 25:11