Words Are Gold

A month after writing on Privilege, an opportunity arose for me to talk about it with my son. (That's how God works!)

I was working in the kitchen, listening to my two oldest play and chitchat, and I started noticing a certain tone in my son's voice. It wasn't that he was insulting his sister, or using potty-talk, or making mean jokes; it was the overall tone of superiority that I caught in his choice of words. He would make a joke that was intentionally confusing, or make a move in the game then say, "Oh, I take it back." When I heard that he had made a promise to his sister the day before, but was now denying it, I pulled him aside.

We sat alone on the couch and I took a moment to form my words. I wanted to make the lesson tangible, I wanted my son to grasp that his words are valuable. So I equated words with money.

"What if I gave you only one dollar to spend on food today? What would you buy?"

My son said he would get something good, like a burger.

"Would you buy candy with it?"

He said no. And I agreed that that would be a waste of his money.

"What if, by some sort of magic, you had only one hundreds words a day, and once you've spoken one hundred words, you can't speak again until the next day?"

This was new, different.

"Would you waste your words on mean talk or bad jokes?"

No, he said.

And from there, we discussed how our words are a gift from God, and that we should use our mouths to do good, being encouraging and loving with our words.

Since then, there's been a change in my son, thank God. I think I was able to nip the problem early.

Then there's me. If my words turned visible as they came out of my mouth, would they be gold, or jewels? No, sometimes, they come out as nails and bullets.

This was a lesson for me too.