It is amazing how your brain can bring back to mind long forgotten memories,
even insignificant ones. My youngest son, who is nearly twelve years old, was
responsible for triggering a long forgotten memory this morning, an event in my
life that happened when I was about his age.
It was late July, and it was breakfast time. I was sitting outside on the
veranda of a hotel in Italy with my parents, enjoying the outstanding view of
the city. Firenze, or Florence for us English-speaking people, lay nestled in
the valley below, surrounded by the foothills of the Apennine Mountains. The
Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore stood out in the distance in all of its
splendor, complete with pigeons on every possible ledge.
Oh, the pigeons!
Although Florence is renowned as being a major centre of culture, commerce, and
banking, a reputation that at one time earned it the status of being the "Athens
of the West", and even now it retains its romantic Renaissance atmosphere, my
attention was held by the pigeons! Especially the ones chasing each other
throughout the branches of nearby trees!
As I was admiring these infamous birds, I happened to I notice a group of
strangers sitting at a table near ours. I listened to them for a few seconds,
and by their accent, determined that they were likely from North America. I
wasn't surprised that they had come from so far away. After all, this amazing
city seemed to attract people from all around the world. Most likely it was
because of its myriad of pigeons!
As our breakfast was being served, I was horrified by a comment made by my
brother: "Look how ugly that woman is!" he said, nodding his head towards the
American lady.
"Shhh!" I hissed, embarrassed. "Don't talk so loud!"
"Who cares!" was his immature response (we were both still quite young and
foolish). "Nobody can understand us anyway!"
It was true, for he was speaking in Oostendsch - the local Dutch dialect
from our hometown in Belgium, a language spoken nowhere else on Earth. Still, it
made me uncomfortable. "You never know!" I snapped.
Breakfast was delicious, and once we had finished, we started to retreat to our
room. As we passed the nearby table however, the "ugly" woman turned to us, and
speaking in perfect Oostendsch, she said: "I used to be pretty you know!"
We stopped in our tracks, our mouths hanging open. I could see my brother's
face, and it was an impossibly bright shade of red. Could it be that he had
gotten sunburned so early in the morning? Or was it something else?
After a few moments of small talk, all in our local dialect, we learned that the
lady's husband had been among the first Americans to enter Belgium in the
liberation following World War II. He had been with the American secret
intelligence and had learned several local Dutch dialects. Who could have
imagined foreigners learning Oostendsch!
What a priceless lesson that lady taught us, for we learned that day that every
word we say bears consequences.
But then, the Bible teaches us exactly the same thing: "A word out of your mouth
may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything - or destroy it!
It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly
placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world,
turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in
smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is
scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue - it's never been done.
The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father;
with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image.
Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can't go on. A
spring doesn't gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple
trees don't bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don't bear apples, do
they? You're not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear,
cool water, are you?" (James 3:5-12 The Message)
Will we be messengers from hell or envoys from heaven?
Do you know of any local dialects?
So do many others!
Rob Chaffart
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
everyone to look towards Jesus as the source of all the solutions to our
problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
messages. HTML and plain text versions available.
The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.