I have endeavored two things in the past two weeks…Number one is to do my daily exercise routine before lunch every weekday and to follow the bible readings that our pastor suggested every morning during my tea break! So far so good and I have to say a new excitement has been building for both my physical and spiritual health. This morning as I was contemplating so many things the scripture I read struck me with such force both for my own personal being and for the greater world around me.

Matthew 12:36 “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken.”

My first thought was how many times have I carelessy spoken to my children, out of frustration, anger, in jest, etc. What account will I have to give for the way I have randomly made a comment to a friend or callously fired a remark at my husband. Never has a piece of scripture burned such conviction on my heart.

As I consider these words on a little bigger scale I think of the lonely young woman who has graced our extended family with her presence for an period of time. She has uprooted herself from her friends and family across the country in order to start fresh and get her life back together. In talking with her over the last few days I see a weary, young lady who has been hurt beyond compare with careless words spoken in anger. Words that may have held some truth but did nothing help her see just how far down a troubled road she had already travelled but pushed her like a bulldozer even farther down the ugly road. Words spoken by those who are charged with loving her and building her up. As I said we often do this to people we love but the reality is that there is no justification for such things and they will indeed come back to “haunt us”.

On a grander scale I see the implications of careless words spoken in relation to the disaster of Haiti! I could not keep my jaw from dropping as I listened, this morning, to a “minister” of Christian faith proclaim that the earthquake of Haiti was a direct result of the pact Haitian leaders had made with the devil. A judgement proclaimed from God on their people for “selling their souls”. As I listened to another talkshow interview Haitian Canadians waiting desperately to hear from family members or finding out that members of their families had been killed and buried in the rubble of their own home, I could not keep the tears from coming knowing that someone who claims to know MY God could pronounce such ficticious judgement on an entire people group.

I’m not really one to preach my faith from the rooftops. I prefer to live my life by example and love as Christ would love in order to draw people to him and allow his Holy Spirit to do the work. However, as I grow older and hopefully wiser I see that there are times when only a loud cry to him on behalf of lost, hurting souls can be heard and that as a believer I must defend my belief that God is not a God of carelessly spoken words but one who carefully chose his words with unconditional love and a deep desire to draw his children to him!

My challenge in the coming days is to think more clearly and deeply and speak less. A challenge that for any woman is difficult but one that MUST be taken seriously in a time when the spoken word is all too often tossed carelessy from the mouth.