We were at an elder’s house for a new year’s eve party with others and the teens and college-age were poking fun at me for my southern English. Ask any one of the teens and they’ll give you a list of words I say “wrong.” At that party, it made me laugh when one of our college students asked if I had “fixed” my pronunciation of humble. I’m not sure who died and left her in charge of the English language! Leaving off the “h” on humble is a southern pronunciation, not necessarily wrong.
But clearly, our speech betrays us – similar to the test given by the Gileadites to the Ephraimites, recorded in Judges 12:1-7. The Ephraimites could not pronounce “Shibboleth.” It came out “Sibboleth.” Romanians, we learned, have a difficult time pronouncing the “th” sound. Americans have trouble rolling our r’s. Our speech betrays us.
It is not just how we pronounce words, either. Often, it is the way we say things. While we lived in Romania, our team donated toys and fruit to a children’s hospital. We put them in small bags and left them on the beds, if the child was not in the room. One time, I left one on the bed and, in the hall way, was asked about it. I responded, in Romanian: “I left it on the bed.” That’s how we would say it in English. A little way down the hall, the same thing happened, but I overheard a nurse tell a mom that I left it “at the bed.” I did not say anything grammatically or syntactically wrong. It just wasn’t the way Romanians would say it. Our speech betrays us.
What does your speech say about you? Do you show by your speech that you love and respect your spouse? Are you rude? Critical? Sarcastic? Snarky? Impatient? Sharp? Insulting? Do you show by your speech that you love and respect your children? Does your speech show you are patient? Loving? Joyful? Peaceful? Kind?
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Consider these proverbs: “The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom” (Prov. 10:31). “The tongue of the wise brings healing” (Prov. 12:18). “The tongue of the wise commends knowledge” (Prov. 15:2). “A gentle tongue is a tree of life” (Prov. 15:4). “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble” (Prov. 21:23). “The teaching of kindness is on her tongue” (Prov. 31:26).
Remember, your speech betrays you. What is it saying?
Paul Holland
