Your Mouth. How Will You Use It?

"The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences."   ... Proverbs 18:21


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So one bleary-eyed morning, I (as always) watched our local morning news program on the red couch with my hot chocolate.

The story came on about that bronze statue of Lucille Ball in her (rather near us) hometown of Celeron, NY. It's been there since 2009, but recently the Internet got things stirred up (as it will), zooming the photos everywhere, gathering all the haters who say the statue makes Lucy look like a monster, a zombie and just plain ugly and scary. Lucy fans declared the statue should be destroyed immediately.

Both of our newscasters (who I dearly love), paused after the story and one said, "Hmm. Kinda makes you feel bad for the sculptor, right?" The other stated, "That's what I was going to say! It's sad, really." 

And that's exactly what I'd been thinking, as well. "Doesn't anyone care about the artist's feelings? Do they think he meant to create a statue that doesn't quite resemble Lucy and upsets her fans?"

Gah. It's like no remembers the Bible's verses about our mouth, especially this one:


"Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to become angry."   ... James 1:19


(Don't get me started.)

But then, the following week I found a different sort of story, one from a couple years ago regarding Tarek El Moussa, you know, the host of HGTV's Flip or Flop (one of my favorite Netflix shows).

A fan of the show during its first season, a nurse, noticed a bulge on Tarek's neck. She'd seen lots of thyroid cancer cases, so she contacted the show's production company and voiced her concerns.

Turns out Tarek was having trouble swallowing and had already seen a doctor, but got an all clear, no problem report. But when his staff told him what the nurse had stated, he said, "I think it's time to get a second opinion."

He did. Turns out it was cancerous and had begun spreading, even. Immediate surgery saved him.

Wow. 

And yes, these stories aren't related at all and probably only I could find a connection. But there is one: We can spend our days spreading Death or Life with our words. The choice is ours and God expects us to make the right one(s).



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Ol' Debra at the Lucy and Desi Museum in Jamestown ages ago.



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