Cindy, don't you open it too!
So there I was, sitting in my car in the parking lot at work, picking strawberries up off the filthy mats (it was a rough morning drive), when I noticed a canvas bag on the back seat floor. I had forgotten it was there, and even what the contents were.
The bag contained some beach stones, collected for potential Smooth Stone Awards we hand out to a number of volunteers each year. It also contained a lone plastic lunch container. The stones provided a hint as to how long the bag and its contents had been in my car (at least three months), so now the following questions remained:
- What type of food was in that container the day I brought it to work?
- Did I wash it out after I consumed its contents?
- Do I really want to open it?
I knew, after sitting that long in various fluctuating temperatures, regardless of whether I washed it or not, there was a 99.9% chance the inside would reek, and therefore be unusable in the future. I knew if I opened it, something foul and nasty would come out of there. I knew better than to open it and let it out. Despite all this… I still wanted to open it.
So I did.
And I gagged.
I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough.
That container reminded me of my mouth (and sometimes even my emails), and how there are times when I know I shouldn’t open it (or type it)… because something foul and nasty is just waiting to leap out and offend those around me. (Please note: I brush my teeth frequently, so I’m talking about my words, not my breath.)
James 3:7-12 says: People have tamed all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures. Yet, no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil filled with deadly poison. With our tongues we praise our Lord and Father. Yet, with the same tongues we curse people, who were created in God’s likeness. Praise and curses come from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, this should not happen! Do clean and polluted water flow out of the same spring?
Hopefully next time I’ll think instead of James 1:19, which says: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue… and I’ll think of that container, and remind myself… Don’t open it!
Scott