WORDS HAVE POWER
From - James 3
Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit out with a neighbor who was out on the front steps having a beer and listening to music. I hadn't seen them in a while and stopped to say hi and have a chat.
Today I woke up with a bit of what I call a share-shame hangover, something that would happen sometimes after a good over five minute spewage at a meeting where I was sure everyone listening took out their little judging pads and graded me toxic. Not enough to send me out but enough to make me aware that I still have much work to do -- on me.
James 3:6-9 "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness."
I had a minor urge as I climbed out of bed to figure out how to sneak out the house without being seen by any of my neighbors and then figure out a route to take on the streets to avoid those I character assassinated. My little world had a small fire going sparked by my conversation of the day before.
And here I am a sober seminary college student generally, a woke being, - yet at the drop of a dime... poof! My tongue splits into a fork and I hiss and slither to my demise! To add further insult to injury my beer drinking friend's tongue should have been the one with the demon seeds flying out - but no it was I, the sober jedi of the Slope! Ugh.
Ok maybe that's bit drama-rama over the top- except maybe to the people I talked about. So, humbled, I went fishing around for inspiration, a word or two to focus me back on a more Divine track to get re-filled on hope and forgiveness and found this youtube clip that I invite you to have a look at.
I must say experience is my least loved pathway to humility. I would so love to float around intuitively om-ing and whispering prayers and laying healing hands on the scattered broken in my pathways... Instead I get the share shame hangover - those feelings inside like muddy goop that tell me something's wrong that needs to be set right. Program has to kick in. It should have kicked in as I was leaving the house but sometimes it just doesn't.
In this clip Jackie Perry offers three suggestions to help us deal with with this - as she puts it "the source of our words so that our words and our worship match". I've never heard of her before but this was a right on perfect timed talk I needed today. It hit especially that need to be loved, seen, heard that - co-dependent little child that thinks the way to get that is through gossip and other destructive behaviors.
For many of us her words translate into our Step 10 - "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.” She says - "Be honest, Behold and Be Filled".
In our tenth step we take an inventory - this is our process of repentance - where we honestly admit our wrong and are willing to do what it takes to make it right. This we do not because we woke up wanting to be better people but because for most of us it is crystal clear that to use is to die and this keeps us from using and gives us another day. For some of us in the religious realm we share the same clear line understanding between what we say and do and hell or heaven. So we act out of a primal will to live imperative that then equals a better contribution to the world. Funny how that works. As we work to be better individuals it also serves to make the world better... We also behold - She took us to Jesus - the model of perfection that stands as the standard for us to pattern ourselves after. For some of us that translates to our sponsors, "old" timers, and other program peeps. And "Be filled" - this is the fire, the holy spirt, that sense of quiet spiritual serene calm all is well this to shall pass - you know church - program we use different words but we more times than not mean the same thing....
Any way I invite you to watch this talk, I really think she says it all much better, and then see what resonates with you an what you can take into your day to make the world a better place...
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If you need to talk reach out message me or call a friend.
Amen!