P4E.037 - Sound Effects 2 - Defiled!

"Hear and understand. Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man....the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man." Jesus

I realize that I have skipped over the whole area of cursing when things go wrong. Knowing that I'm coming from a Believer's perspective and that I believe that most of you are Believers, I expect that we can rightly assume that my flesh is completely in control if I'm cursing when things go wrong. That's not where I want to be at all. I would hate to be like one of those pilots whose last recorded words are "_ _ _ _" before their plane crashes. So, I'm talking about another, higher level of personal accountability and credibility here....One that we should rightly be held to as Believers in Christ.

It may be urban legend, but I've heard that doctors and surgeons are trained not to say things like "oops," or "uh-ohhh," or any other utterances that might give their patients cause to become concerned. Instead, I've heard they are trained to say "therrrrrrrre," with confidence when things go wrong. I like this. I don't look at it as though the doctor is trying to cover anything up, but that they don't want to unduly concern their patients. I look at it as though they are confident that whatever mistake they've made can be remedied and there's no reason to fuss and fume over it and distress their patient's spirits. If a doctor can be trained thus, then so can I!

I have a close friend who once described going to the refrigerator, looking for mustard. Instead of finding the old stand-by mustard, he found a different brand. His response was "awwwwwwwwww." Unbeknownst to him, his wife was in the kitchen. She asked him "what?" So he told her that it was just that there wasn't his old favorite mustard in the 'fridge. This opened up a whole area of conversation where my friend learned that these verbal outbursts were a "drain" on his wife's spirit. Her spirit would sink when these utterances would escape his mouth because it caused her to worry "what now?"

I know that I do exactly this same thing to Gwen. I'm not supposed to be a drain on her spirit, but rather I'm supposed to be strength. This has really been a revelation to me. My attitude, personality, words, actions, thoughts, even the sounds that I make have a real physical effect on those around me, especially my wife and children. I can be a drain or I can be a source of strength. I choose. With some self-discipline, I choose wisely. How about you?

Peace, Kim