"What was that again?"

As I get older, there are certain things that really drive me crazy.
Seriously.
Hearing people eat.
Hearing conversations someone is having on their cell.
The woman next to me in library who just now didn't cover her sneeze....while on the computer.
My neighbor's kid practicing the trumpet.
Gum popping.
Incorrect grammar.

Now, before you label me a snob remember, everyone has their "thing," and for me seeing a facebook post or an email with the wrong form of "your" or "you're" drives me crazy. There is also a difference in "wandering" and "wondering." Then, there is the ever popular version of "there," "their," and "they're."
Sigh.

I have made my share of mistakes, don't get me wrong.  Just the other day I was double checking an email I had sent and realized in my haste I had misspelled my own name. Or for some of us, we mistakenly send the wrong word in a text when our devices "auto correct" something for us.

Words, posts, messages, emails, letters, voice mails, we are consumed all day and many times well into the night with "saying the right thing."

As someone who once posted: " I wish sarcasm was a font," I often find myself in the mindset of "Wow, what I just said was certainly profound."

However, yesterday I was talking to a friend about having contacted a mutual friend/acquiantance of ours. I was frustrated and disappointed in this person, because he had "said" he was going to help with an urgent need, but in fact he hadn't.

My  friend said something so simple, "I love that you took the time to contact him. In my opinion, it makes his words have weight and he has to be accountable for them. It's so easy for us to throw around words of "blessing," but do nothing with them. I'm completely guilty myself and hopefully I'm becoming more aware of the connection of what I say and what I do."

The amazing woman who said this has been a true "rock" to me. She is friendship personified in that she has always come through for me.  I see posts from others on her facebook page that reflect the exact same feelings. She is real. She is selfless. She has always done exactly what she said she would do. Yet, she recognized the need to evaluate her motives and her words.

Needless to say, I felt the need to do the same. 

How many times have I said...
"I'll be praying for you."
"You are in my prayers."
" How are you?"
"I'll come see you."
" I'll get that in the mail today!"
" I love you."

We all know the scripture: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and he that loves it will eat of its fruit."Prov 18:21 (NASB)

Did you catch that last part? " He that loves it will eat its fruit."
I am pretty sure I would rather "eat fruit of life" vs. "fruit of death."
That hits hard. 

I once heard someone say, that everything we say is forever. Period.  All sound is held forever in the atmosphere. So, in space, astronauts have heard all types of interference with communications due to a saturation of sound waves.  If that is indeed true, boy do I regret a lot of things I 've said.

What would happen if we really lost the "churchspeak" ( I'll be praying for you, love you, etc...etc..)  and really, honestly followed through on what we said.

I know for me, my life would drastically change.

Next week, I will start a new job. I will be back to teaching English and to be honest, although I am excited about the prospect of it all, I am bracing myself for the correcting of papers and of language. 

The good news is, grammar is easily corrected, but the heart? Well, who knows what this job will do for mine.