Dear women and young women, we must all strive to be very careful what our mouths say. A quick word or sentence said at the wrong time or to the wrong audience could cause such a fire!! Even if the intentions on both ends are true and honest and right, we still must always consider the audience and choose our words carefully. Is it profitable? Is it needed? Will it help the situation or make it worse? And I am not even talking about when men are present (that's a whole other post!) ... I'm just talking about when women/young women are with other women/young women.
It was not very long ago that this became a reality to my daughter. Something she had said quite a while ago came back to bite her. I remember the day she said what she said because she told me about it later and shared how she was sure she would be taken the wrong way. She repented of it but the damage was already done [not that she said anything wrong, but that she said it and did not consider how the hearer would hear it]. The spark was already set and it was out of her control. We'll never know for sure exactly how far this fire spread but that's just one of the consequences for not thinking before you speak. Thankfully in this case the only person it made look bad was the one who said it (my daughter).
I appreciated one thing she said in reaction to this fire: "At least it was for something I said a long time ago instead of something I have said recently." She has really been working on keeping her tongue and this was an encouragement to her. Sometimes (oftentimes?) it takes things like this to help us grow.
I believe this is something us women will have to be very cautious about all of our lives. It does not seem like something we will all the sudden learn, but I do believe we can get better and better as time and experience come and go. Our hearts must be fixed on loving the Lord and loving our neighbors.
Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
