Lakeside Visitor March 2010

I know you’ve been there before: you’re walking behind a kid-and-parent combo at Wal-Mart or the grocery store. The parent is hovering precariously at some stage of meltdown as they try to get their kid out of there before a murder occurs–and the solution seems simple to you. You think “Surely my kids…” or “I wouldn’t…” or the wiser and more seasoned “Oh honey, my heart goes out…” before muttering a quick prayer. Perhaps you’re glancing up from this right now knowing you’re that parent and you dread trips to the store for just this reason. These situations test who we are and sometimes we don’t like what we see.

This past week I overheard a parent in my apartment complex chastise their child for cussing at his mom. While I agree with the child’s need for rebuke on this point, I probably would have left out the choice expletives the father used to make his point. I would imagine that this child noticed something of a double standard in that moment, as I did, and had a hard time categorizing where he should put this new instruction. Now, how a parent raises their child is no business of a guy without kids of his own, but I started to think about how instructing a child in the way they should speak will most often come from the examples of his or her guardians. We can lay down guidelines, print up rule sheets, or employ a sticker-reward system as incentive, but they will inevitably learn most from watching us. So are we teaching our children to speak with love or to simply be the loudest gong in the room?

Take a moment right now to read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a and think about how your speech might change if you put this passage into practice. I’ll wait… okay, finished? The love chapter is often used in weddings to describe how we are to hold to one another, but this kind of love should also be the goal of the way we talk to one another.  How might your relationships with the people in your life improve if you loved them like this through your speech? Maybe this reads to you like a rebuke, or an encouragement, or a challenge. Take this month as a challenge to teach yourself to lace all your words with love, whether you’re at home, the grocery store, or (gulp) the DMV. Let your words this month be filled with love–as God is love–and see what He’ll do.