Grains of Sand

Pixabay Some of my American friends are wrestling with how they voted in the last presidential election. Believing that Hilary wasn’t a good choice they voted for Donald. Now they are rethinking that. The latest scandal to hit the White House has sent ripples throughout the world. Donald was caught disparaging people from African nations and from Haiti even while he is signing some kind of document to honour Martin Luther King Jr. He claims that what he said was taken out of context. Even if it was, calling African nations “s—hole” countries is not appropriate no matter what the context. But that is the mouth of man. And the Scriptures (Matthew 15:18, 19) are clear that what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart—deny it all you want! Meanwhile, our own Prime Minister is pushing his marijuana agenda in town halls across the country. A young Muslim girl was attacked in Toronto because of her hijab. The PM expressed concern, and rightly so, but then made the statement that, “T...

Several weeks ago I was asked if I would be willing to do a workshop at an upcoming Ladies’ Retreat. At the time, I had nothing really in mind that would make a useful contribution. I knew that the main speaker’s theme was going to be on holiness so my mind began to drift in that direction. What aspect of holiness would make a good workshop? With more than just a little prompt from the Holy Spirit, I landed on the theme of language—what comes out of our mouths that probably shouldn’t. It’s a theme that has niggled at the back of my mind since I began to hear language that made me shudder from people I didn’t expect to hear it from, and on occasions that I never imagined remotely appropriate for its use. My research on the subject has revealed some startling things—including things about some the words and phrases I often use. There is a red flag—I am not the language police and I don’t want to come across as one who is playing that role. What I want to highlight is our need to av...