"Let the Words of My Mouth (and the clicks of my keyboard) . . . "

In the past few days I have had jarring and significant reminders about the power of the words that flow through my head and come out my fingers into my computer keyboard. In one case, a friend I haven't seen in years noticed that I hadn't posted on Facebook in a few days, found out I'd been sick and said she'd "been missing me." She didn't mean that she'd been missing my physical presence, but she had missed my brief quips and descriptions of life in, around, and through the Pearson family. That immediately made me do a mental rewind of the tape recorder to think about what I had been sharing lately.

In another case, a friend chose to share her heart with me and to take our friendship to a deeper level because of some responses I had typed to her over the past several months. Whoa.

Just this morning I found out that a friend stayed up late last night reading every blog I'd ever posted. ALL of them. Talk about sobering. I immediately scrolled through to review them for myself. Were they uplifting? Were they consistent with the Christianity that I profess? I don't think even Steve or my children have stopped to read all of them. I realized that this person now knew a LOT about what makes me tick, what motivates me, who Connie Pearson is and what she believes. I took a big gulp and acknowledged again the tremendous power of words -- for good, for harm, for instruction, for destruction.

James 3:5b-10 describes it powerfully. "See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. . . For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and have been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so."

Because I am married to such a wise man, I have pretty much seen myself as just "the comic relief" for his seriousness. But, in my heart of hearts, I deeply want to be known as a woman of wisdom. I am no longer physically present with many people on a daily or even a weekly basis (unlike my teaching days when I interacted with hundreds each day), but through the amazing connectivity of the internet, my thoughts can be dispersed throughout the U.S. and even to other countries with just a click of the "post" button. Because of these recent reminders, a "default-like" prayer that I learned as a young girl has formed repeatedly in my heart today.

Psalm 19:14 "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

I feel certain that if David were writing these words today he might surely add:

"Let the words of my mouth and the clicks of my keyboard that result from the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

Hold me accountable, friends.