Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my refugee. Psalm 19:14
There is a strong connection between the tongue and heart. This is what I remember my Sunday school teacher sharing with me as she held up a cow’s tongue during her object lesson. The largest tongue I had ever seen up to that point in my life. As a young child, this lesson left a lasting impression upon me, yet I still stumble over my words and my tongue gets twisted at times.
The tongue is a powerful force in the body with around 10,000 taste buds that are replaced every two weeks. Did you know your taste changes every 5 to 7 years? These powerful buds help me savor food and can transform my taste experience. The tongue provides a place of taste, touch, and talk. Taste buds detect various dimensions of flavors such as salty, sour, sweet, bitter and Umami (savory). My words can have similar perceptions on people I interact with everyday leaving varying tastes in their mouth. My words can be sweet, sour or very bitter even if that was not my intention. Wouldn’t it be a wonder if I could replace my words as quickly as my taste buds or transition my thoughts every 5 to 7 years toward more forgiveness, love and mercy?
Words are powerful to transform the soul – to feed, teach, communicate and give life. This month, my words were quoted in the local paper regarding a controversial debate in my community. Even though I post these blogs for the world to read, seeing my words printed in a “political” viewpoint for my neighbors to read was both humbling and shocking. It made me question my heart motives and wonder how savory were my words. My words, albeit mild, were not in agreement with everyone in the community. However controversial they could have been construed, they came from the protective ‘mama bear’ portion of my heart. My friend shared this encouragement with me afterward, ”There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” (Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor). Even in protest, I have learned my words should still be savory, give life, love and compassion.
There is a strong connection with the heart and words. “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45) Love and hate speak volumes. This contemplation is essential for my words to be savory, even if they are not always sweet. Words should be palatable to the hearer. This is something my husband and I are always working on within our family – first for ourselves and then with our kids. All of us should first listen to the temperature of our hearts before we speak. Words can be fiery and burn the heart of the hearer. Finding the right heart connection and translating it to the appropriate words originates in love. Therefore, what I need to do first is make the right heart connection with the Lord. His words are flawless. (Psalm 12:6) Only He can transform my heart and my tongue.
Savor
Tongue. Words. Heart.
How is your heart connection with the Lord? Does that translate in your words?