by Luciano Cozzi Words are like seeds we plant everyday, and they can be good seeds or infesting weeds. John Oxenham makes this point in a thought-provoking poem he wrote about sowing good seeds: I spoke a word, And no one heard; I wrote a word, And no one cared Or seemed to heed; But after half a score of years It blossomed in a fragrant deed. Preachers and teachers all are we, Sowers of seed unconsciously. Our hearts are beyond our ken; Yet all we give may come again With usury of joy or pain. We never know To what one little word may grow. See to it, then, that all your seeds Be such as bring forth noble deeds. The question could be asked, “Why should I be so careful about what I say? Don't I have the right to speak my mind?” Perhaps we may have the right, but if we could see in advance the effects of such words, perhaps we would refrain from exercising that freedom too carelessly. Words spoken in anger, for example, have been compared to a shotgun blast. Often those who speak in anger admit to having a bad temper, but generally they justify it by saying that it is soon over. Well, a shotgun blast is over in a very short second, but not the damage it causes! From the heart In Psalm 19:14 we find a great deal of wisdom revealed in just a few words: “May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, o Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”  Indeed, the words we speak are clearly connected to what we think in our hearts. Centuries later, Jesus made the same point as He reminded us that the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. Just like the psalmist, if we want our words to be edifying and pleasing to God, we should begin by nurturing our hearts. What we think of others, how we look at life, every root of bitterness and resentment, all our thoughts will determine what we will say. Indeed, our words are like the open pages of a book, revealing what is in our hearts. The psalmist suggested in his own example that we should begin every day by cleaning our thoughts and surrendering the meditations of our heart to God. Imagine what a difference it would make if we all practiced that, if we all cleansed our thoughts in Christ through the renewal of our minds by the Holy Spirit. No wonder why God looks at the heart behind our words and actions. When words are silver, but silence is golden There are times in which the best words are those that are not spoken. Proverbs 13:3 is one of the many passages of the Word of God in which we are reminded that “speaking our minds” is often foolish and can indeed bring ruin. Words are powerful, and can bring about misery, pain and destruction. In James 3:5, we are reminded that the tongue is a small member of our body, but it can cause enormous damage. Indeed, we need to control what we say. We need to think about it before we say it, and be aware of the consequences it will have. If we cannot say something constructive and edifying, as the old saying goes, we should say nothing at all. This is good advice indeed, and would spare many a victims on both sides. The story is told of a woman who had a serious throat condition that required absolute rest for her vocal cords. The doctor's prescription included a hard task: no speaking at all for six months. At first, this seemed impossible, but eventually the woman cooperated. At home, when she needed to call the children she would blow a whistle, when she needed to give instructions she would write memos and questions were answered on pads of paper she had placed in strategic locations around the house. Eventually the six months passed, and once she was fully recovered, her first comments were quite revealing. She said that her children had become quieter, and then she stated, “I don't think I'll ever holler again like I used to.... You'd be surprised how many of my notes, written hastily, I crumpled up and threw into the waste basket before I gave them to anyone to read. Seeing my words before anyone heard them had  an effect that I don't think I can ever forget.” Perhaps we should all consider a similar “medicine” and read our words before anyone has a chance to hear them. I imagine we all would rephrase, change, tone down, or just delete many of the things we generally say without caring enough to think about it first. How many tears would be spared! A second lesson, perhaps better described as a parable, comes from the Food Science Department of the University of Michigan, where years of careful research have shown a way to peel the onions without making the eyes water: just keep your mouth shut! I suppose this would apply to more than just peeling onions. I can scarcely imagine how many tears could have been avoided if we had kept our mouth shut at the right time and had given the Holy Spirit the opportunity to check our words before we said them. Stop that gossip! We all know what gossip is, and we all have been part of it at one point or another. At times, we have been on the receiving side, and we have felt the sting of the tongue. In Exodus 23:1 God commands His people not to pass along a false report. An elderly man has shared how he learned this lesson as a child: "One day when I was about 8 years of age, I was playing beside an open window while our neighbor confided to my mother a serious problem concerning another person.  When our visitor was gone, my mother, realizing I had heard everything, said, 'If Mrs. Brown had left her purse here just now, would you give it to someone else?' 'Why, of course not,' I replied. 'Well she left something more precious than that.  That story she told could hurt many people and cause much unhappiness.  It still belongs to her, and we shall not pass it on to anyone.  Do you understand?'  I did, and I have remembered ever since that a confidence or a bit of careless gossip is not mine to distribute to others." In the book of Proverbs we read that “Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow” (25:18). Listening to gossip is like wounding our own heart, and sharing it is like spreading a wild fire. Once we do that, there is no going back, and the effects of it will be out of our control. “The words of the whisperer are like dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts of the body” (Prov. 18:8). So, I suppose that it would be best not to even listen to gossip in the first place. Just like a drop of sewage in a gallon of water, a little gossip here and there can seriously contaminate our whole heart. It would only be a matter of time, then, until we find ourselves spreading such deadly poison, perhaps under the false pretense of “righteous” criticism. Remember: “For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down” (Prov. 26:20). So, let us stop that gossip right here and now! Let's not even let it in our hearts, and let's not encourage it. We have power over it, power to fan the fire or to quench it. A balm or a caustic drop? In the wisdom of the book of Proverbs we find much about the power and the value of words. In chapter 15 we read that “A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit” (v. 4) and “a man has joy in an apt answer, and how delightful is a timely word!” (v. 23). Indeed, much good can be done by the appropriate use of words. In chapter 25 we are told that “like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances” (v. 11). Essentially, every time we speak we have the power to heal or to destroy. Think how much good can be done by appropriate words spoken wisely at the right time. They can lift a downcast soul, bring hope to the discouraged, strengthen the weak, heal the brokenhearted. There is no measure to the good that can be done with them. They can be like a soothing balm applied on a sensitive skin to heal and protect. But just as our words can be a powerful tool for good, they can also be powerful for evil. They can all too easily be turned from the healing balm they are supposed to be to a drop of caustic soda that will keep eating into the hearts of people in all its destructive force. Perhaps the most destructive sort of this kind of words are the destructive words that are spoken under the pretense of “righteousness” and of “good.” They are like caustic soda hidden the balm, and their damage can be so deep that some find it very hard to recover. I am speaking here about the double tongue, that which in one sentence can praise the Lord while mercilessly stabbing the heart of one of His precious children. It is perhaps the worst kind, for  it brings shame on the very name of God. James was inspired to write, “From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs?” (3:10-12). We have already mentioned how what we say reveals who we are at heart. But we have not yet considered that what we say affects the way we portray He who dwells in our hearts as well. Our words speak of Jesus If we are Christians, we are also representatives of Christ, and our words speak volumes about Jesus in us. The question is, what do they say to others about Jesus? It should not be new for us, as believers, that we represent Jesus Christ in all we say and do. Jesus promised that He and the Father would abide in us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (John 14:23; Gal 2:20). Indeed, we are “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20) and everything we say and do will either honor or dishonor the One whom we represent. It is because of this that in Colossians 4:6 we are told to make sure that our conduct (including what we say) is filled with grace and effective, so that we may be able to have the right answer for everyone. The gospel itself can be hindered by our words and actions, if we allow them to be contaminated by evil speaking. Ephesians 4 stands in the Word of God as a passage that reveals a great deal in terms of our communication and its roots. In it, we are told “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear” (4:29). These words, written just before the injunction not to grieve the Holy Spirit, are just as much a warning against the negative as they are an instruction for the positive. According to the Word of God, we don't just sin when we use our tongue for evil, but we also sin when we do not use it for good. Every word we say (even a necessary rebuke) should serve God's purpose to edify, encourage, strengthen, heal, comfort and bring life, according to the need of the moment. It implies our need to use the wisdom of God to determine what is needed at any given time, and the love of Christ that will enable us to think of the hearer more than about us as we speak. May our words be seeds that plant nobleness and good in every heart around us.