7 Days of Kindness: A Challenge in Words

I can't remember a time when I didn't talk too much. I got NI's on my report cards in elementary school with "talks excessively" circled in red. In middle school, I lost weight from talking on the phone instead of eating dinner. If I wasn't talking, I was writing. Note passing or blogging in high school, I was always communicating to others far more than necessary. 

I decided Thursday to take one week and only speak kind words kindly. That may sound redundant, but I can speak kind words and not speak them in a kind. I can can also speak kindly without saying kind things. 


What have I learned since Thursday? Allow me to type this in kind words: It is incredibly difficult for me to slow down and think and then speak kind words in a kind way. 


I like graphically organized information, so I'm going to begin a tally table of the following:

• the number of times I speak before thinking and am unkind
• times that I think or speak unkind words toward myself
• times I am tempted to speak rashly but don't

I know that God's brought me a long way since I became a Christian nearly ten years ago, and I know He'll continue changing me. This little challenge is a practical, tangible way to "work out my salvation." 

Some encouragement and exhortation:

"Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!" ~King David (Psalm 141:3)

"When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent." ~King Solomon (Proverbs 10:19)

"But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander." ~King Jesus (Matthew 15:18-19)