4/12/23 Don’t stop believing (I hear ya singing 🎶).
And don’t stop writing or praying.
I started this blog after finding a large stash of index card prayers my father had written. They were in a plastic recipe box. They were a collection of prayers he gave at his regular Exchange Club meeting. They are all a snapshot in time, a brief glimpse into what was on his ❤ that day.
Although started with pious certitude, I have not fearfully and faithfully stepped up to take the mantle and subsequently post my prayers, as a parent.
So, today, after pondering for a night, I pulled out the shiny new coil of snap-off index cards and am making another start. It is far easier and way less intimidating to post someone else’s prayers, than to post mine. My prayers are here and now. The situation is still raw. It hasn’t healed. Dad’s prayers were years old when I first started posting. Mine are still living.
But, refusing to post prayers guarantees the situation won’t change. Left alone, ignored and self-contained, a situation not bathed in prayer slowly grows old, stale and lifeless or, worse, it becomes corrupt and starts to putrefy. If putrefying food in a plastic container in my refrigerator is disgusting…how much worse does a situation become if I am not fervently, diligently, consistently praying over it?
Ephesians 4:29, in the Young’ Literal Translation reads: — Let no corrupt word out of your mouth go forth, but what is good unto the needful building up, that it may give grace to the hearers;
When I looked up “corrupt” in Strong’s, the word is #4550 σαπρός, sapros. Biblical usage is as follows,
- rotten, putrefied
- corrupted by one and no longer fit for use, worn out
- of poor quality, bad, unfit for use, worthless
“Putrefied?” I heard you question that.
It makes sense. In a recent situation, flaming texts, set loose, are indeed already rotten. They should never have been written. Yet, to see a swear word used as an adjective describing a relative is shocking. Dwelling on that jarring pairing, however, is also poisoning.
Whether it came from my mouth (it didn’t) or my fingers (it didn’t) it has served no purpose to build up any situation. Neither has anyone been blessed who heard or saw.
In order to give grace to those around us, it helps to keep in mind what we say (online) can last a very, very long time.
My parent’s prayer
4/12/23 Heavenly Father, let no putrefied word come out of my mouth. May what comes out build up. May it be helpful to those who need building up. May it (always) give grace to the hearers and the readers.
Don’t stop praying. And certainly, don’t stop guarding that mouth lest any putrefied words fly out.