Salt and Lemon Juice Words

Matthew 12:36
But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

Recently I preserved lemons.  I didn't know that I had microscopic cuts on my hands until the mixture of lemon juice and kosher salt seeped into every crevice of my skin.  Suddenly, all I could focus on was the pain.

Isn't it interesting how words can be much the same way?  You didn't know you had a weak spot, a scar, a figurative cut in your heart until just the lethal mixture of lemon juice and salt words fall upon you.  Suddenly, all you can focus on is the pain caused by something someone said.  Never-mind that it may not be true.  Never-mind that the person spewing such a lethal mixture is a pained person that ought not be taken seriously.  All you care about is the seemingly sudden appearance of painful wounds.

I say all this because I have been on the receiving end of some pretty unkind words.  Some were unintentional.  Some were methodical and intentional.  Some were directly from their mouth to my ear, some were indirectly from someone's fingers to my eyes.  And yet the most painful words were those from someone's mouth to another persons ears, beginning a chain reaction that was akin to the destruction of a wildfire.  Only time and Divine Healing can undo what was done with something as "harmless" as an "opinion".

There is nothing I can do to change the actions of other people.  I can, however, hold captive my thoughts about those people.  I can pray for them.  I can forgive them.  I can choose to wash off the lemon juice and salt from my own skin and move on.  I can also be careful to not speak salt and lemon juice words to others, but instead words of edification and healing.

James 4:11
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.