Written by Betty B.
Oh what a little rascal you are. You have great power. When used wrongly you can destroy a person. If you’re used the right way you can encourage someone to do the impossible.
Proverbs 18:21a, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
Ephesians 4:29, “Let no corrupt communications proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
The tongue is powerful but God gives us the ability to control it.(Deuteronomy 30:19)
I really don’t know who wrote this little piece below. I wish I had. Encourage someone today. We never know what effect it will have on our own lives.
NAILS & WORDS
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.
The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his Father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.
The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same...when you say things in anger, they leave scars just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say, ‘I’m sorry,’ the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us.”