Scream!
Have you ever said something you wish you could take back?
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh. - James 3:1-12
What is so unique about us in all creation is our ability to harm one another with words.
I came across a video of two lynx cats screaming at each other and I thought, maybe I have this wrong. Maybe we aren't the only species that can be so cruel with the tongue.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaXmIPHrHmY
But while we do not know for certain what the cats are saying to each other, whether it is a territorial battle or something else, we know it is different than what we humans do when we go at it with one another.
What sets us apart is that we can use our words to harm in ways other animals would admire, if they could.
We can say something to someone and have the repercussions affect someone we may not even know.
Words are powerful that way.
When we send them out on their own, they continue to do their harm. Too bad the good words don't have the same degree of success.
So, James warns us to think about what we let loose on the world. You never know who may be talking about you.
More to come...