We started our second week of camp yesterday. There's a few new kids from last week but most of our campers are now classified as returning vets even if they are only five years old. Except for Charlotte who has been on my camp team multiple years, I'm working with a entirely new group this June. We've moved to our West Campus this year which is a totally different set-up, even though only a few blocks from our main location. This site has a lobby entrance to navigate before you walk around to the gym area. The coaches get there early and help set up for the camp day- I typically fill up the water cooler. Then I head back to the lobby and greet the kids as they come in. Maggie is on my team for the second week in the morning session. I'd never met her before last Monday but I feel like I had. Her eldest sister was one of my eighth grade students this year and is painting a ceiling tile for my classroom on Jesus washing the feet of His apostles. And, her mom is going to be our WCS athletic trainer next year! Throw in a sixth grade sister who will be attending our school as well and it's like we're old friends! Maggie and I sit and talk as the other kids come in, usually accompanied by parents. I'm learning her philosophy of life which seems to be pretty terrific! It befits a terrific young lady.
Yesterday morning as we chatted before camp, I noticed Maggie began consecutive sentences with the word, actually. I interrupted her and said I was going to count how many times she used actually in my presence. She tried really hard.... and only said it once on Monday! But today, THREE TIMES so she's up to four! (I had an 8th grader in class several yeas ago by the name of Riley who went through a week in which everything was intense. "Coach, the chicken fried steak at lunch today was intense!" "Coach, that Spanish quiz was intense!" Of course, Riley quickly grew out of it!) It's not just kids! During Monday's afternoon session, Coach Guthrie said "OK?" five times talking about consistency in shooting motion. Me? I'm an ''umm'' guy but I haven't slipped up yet. So, in the competition between Maggie and me, the score stands at:
ACTUALLY- 4
UMM- 0
I'm winning! But since there are three days of camp left this week, it's not even half time. I can't let down my guard!
Being creatures of habit and our environment, we pick up quirks in our speech patterns which, I'm convinced, few of us recognize. I'm not really concerned about what subconsciously has made a home in my linguistics. I've never uttered Umm on purpose but I also doubt my saying Umm has ever hurt another's feelings. Deliberate choice of words? That's another story. Words can be weapons or they can carry healing, as Rudyard Kipling alludes in the quote below. That decision is mine and yours. How then should we construct our verbal interactions? Here are some pretty good Biblical suggestions/commandments!
Ephesians 4:29
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Colossians 4:6
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Matthew 15:11
It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”
It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”
Proverbs 15:1-2
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.
Ephesians 5:4
Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
Can I learn from these gems of knowledge? Would living by these thoughts of profound wisdom make me wiser and avoid the shame I deal with from my utterances? Will applying them make me a better servant of the Kingdom of Heaven? They can, they would, and they will! Actually!
Applicable quote of the day:
Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.
Rudyard Kipling
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
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