little member

Any time you get a several people in a room who are each seeking their own agenda, you'll find some sort of conflict.  Lower the age a bit and you can get chaos.  This seems to happen in our home every time summer starts.  Everybody has their own idea of what summer holds for them which will often clash with other ideas in the house, especially if there are teenagers involved.  Here is where the littlest "member" reeks havoc.  The member I'm speaking of isn't little Abi but the active workings of the tongue.  Sometimes, it takes on a life of its own.  Multiply it by 8 and you have a mouthful!

As a mother, it pains me when the negative noise drowns out any positive noise and most especially the quiet whisper of the Spirit.  It can be so frustrating that I often join in.  In hopes that we could work on this during the summer, I taught the lesson on family night about our language.

The Lord teaches in a letter written by the apostle James that the tongue is very powerful even though it is small.  Just as the bit controls the horse and the small helm controls the ship "Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things," James 3:5  He even says that "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body."

Our children need to learn self control beginning with their speech.  It can have such a powerful affect on others for good or bad.  It probably is the most difficult to learn though, because it is so easy to just blurt out what is going through our mind.  Teaching the next generation self control through speech begins with mothers and fathers.  We can be more successful if we rely on the Spirit to guide us and strengthen us when our control starts to wain.

I was reading the Ensign today, a talk given by Julie Beck, the Relief Society President and a part of it struck me as relevant to our "tongue" issue at home.  She said, "When women nurture as Christ nurtured, a power and peace can descend to guide when help is needed.  For instance, mothers can feel help from the Spirit even when tired, noisy children are clamoring for attention, but they can be distanced from the Spirit if they lose their temper with children."

Christ nurtured with teaching, patience, and most of all love.  I pray daily for charity to love my family, to see them clearly and be patient with them.  I fall short daily, so I will continue to ask daily.