She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. Proverbs 31: 26⠀
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I was meditating on this verse today and the word “law” jumped out at me and made me think of restraint.⠀She restrains her tongue to speak with kindness. Why?⠀ ⠀
We live in an age where we are all encouraged to speak our truth. An age in which we are encouraged to focus on authenticity first, delivery second, if at all. ⠀
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Reality TV amplifies this trend with the plethora of loud, brash, sassy “characters” who earn their money based on how unrestrained they can be with their speech. Characters cut and dice each other with harsh words and while we are aghast in the moment, we come back for more. But what happens to us when we consume this content day after day, month after month, year after year? We start to emulate some of this behavior. It’s inevitable. ⠀
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Proverbs 31: 26 is a beautiful reminder that part of our power as women is the way in which we communicate. We have the power to build up and to tear down. In Matthew 15:11, Jesus says, “not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” So not only do we have the power to build up and tear down others by how we communicate, but we build up or tear down (defile) ourselves in the process. ⠀
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Let’s choose to be like the virtuous wife in Proverbs 31 and harness this power for good, not for evil. Let’s choose to speak with wisdom. Let’s choose to speak kindly.
