Posted By Guest Contributor

How many times have I said those words to my sons? Countless! Recently I was reminded that I must be careful about what comes out of my mouth, too. I know that seems like an obvious statement; I thought I was careful. I have always had clean speech around my children. It simply isn’t my way to use bad grammar or to swear.

So I found myself scratching my head the other day as I gave my 19 month old twins a bath and one of them pipes up in his tiny little voice to his brother who has stood up to look at the faucet “sit on butt!” - uh oh. Then later on as he was sitting down on his little baby chair - “ewwww, my butt” - oh no!

Now, I could swear that I always tell them to “sit on your bottom please”…honestly I do! But he had to hear it somewhere and sometimes in a moment of hurry or frustration it probably does come out that way. Oooooh, it simply does not sound good coming out of a baby’s mouth!

There is a verse that says “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise” Psalm 8:2a. Maybe it is his baby-ness, but here’s a general compilation of some of the phrases he says on a daily basis: “go ‘way”, “me ‘lone”, “no”. These phrases are intermixed by screeching, biting and various other tragic behaviors. Granted, he is a very dramatic little one (thank goodness we only have 2 dramatic boys), but it simply does not sound like Praise!

So I am learning at the age of 35 how to watch my mouth. Finding myself once again humbly standing before my Creator asking for His heart and desires to fill me up so that I may pass on a pleasing and uplifting example to my sons.