The Words of My Mouth

by Diane Cretin

Have you said something and then wish you hadn't? I sure have. I have been thinking and praying about this more than normal in the last few weeks. Different things that happened have upset me more than normal. I realize that when I am upset or tired, my filter may not work as well. My thoughtfulness and kindness want to talk a walk and leave me to ream the person I am unhappy with. But as much as it irks me to admit it, there is nothing good about me reaming the other person.

For one thing, it assumes that I have no fault in the matter. And sometimes maybe I don't. But there are definitely times when I have contributed to a situation that escalated in a negative fashion. I may have needed to show more grace and patience. Perhaps I just needed to listen with an open heart so that I could hear what the other person truly meant when they spoke.

The words in this image spoke to me as I have believed it for years. It may seem satisfying at the moment to verbally blast someone, but even if/when they forgive you, I do believe they don't forget. We can cause a wound that is difficult for the other person to recover from. And there is certainly nothing Christ-like about doing that. I don't want to feel like I cause permanent harm to another human. Am I successful 100% of the time? No, because I do have a sin nature that takes over sometimes. But I am getting better. And I want to keep getting better. Truly caring about what comes out of your mouth is half the battle. Try to determine what can trigger you. I realize that getting adequate sleep helps me be more careful with my words. I also know that sometimes I need to withdraw to my garden or sit in the chair in the corner of my bedroom and spend some quiet time with God. I encourage you to think about what helps you guard what comes out of your mouth.

There are so many Bible verses that tell us to watch what comes out of our mouth. Here are a few for your consideration.

Ephesians 4:29 ESV

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Psalm 19:14 ESV

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Proverbs 12:18 ESV

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Ephesians 5:4 ESV

Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Matthew 12:37 ESV

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

Proverbs 15:1 ESV

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 21:23 ESV

Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

Proverbs 16:24 ESV

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

Matthew 15:11 ESV

It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.

Now let's talk about how to make a chemical reaction and see what comes out of a monster's mouth.

You will need an fairly wide-mouth plastic bottle like this individual serving of Tejava that I got at Costco. Things like vitamin water come in this shape as well. You also need some green paper (we used construction paper), a small piece of white paper, and a marker or pen to draw in eyes. We elected to use tape instead of glue as we knew the outside of the bottle would get wet. If this was an art project that we were keeping, we would have used glue. We cared more about the chemical process than the exact look of our monster.

Cut a strip of green construction paper to cover the straight part of the bottle. Tape it closed. Then you want to cut out a tail for the monster. Although it does not look like it in the second picture, the height of the tail is the same as the height of the piece that covers that bottle.

Then you need to fold part of a piece of the green paper in half and cut out the foot/leg combo. By folding your paper in half and cutting through both halves, your two pieces will match. Again, since we really cared about the upcoming chemical reaction, we did not focus on the exact look of the foot claws. Next, cut out the arms using the same process that you did for the feet/legs. I added the third picture to show you that sometimes we don't like our first attempt. We wanted the arms to be slightly longer so we did another set. Fold an edge back on each piece so you can tape them to the bottle.

Use white copy paper or construction paper to cut out eyes. Draw eyeballs with a pen or marker. Then cut out a row of teeth to go around the mouth of the bottle. You can see the teeth a little better in the second picture.

Now for the fun part! I love science!

First fill at least half of the bottle with vinegar. We did a little more than half. Then add a good squirt of dish soap. I will admit that I had to go buy this Dawn soap as I normally use a toxin-free dish soap that does not have a foaming agent added. Add a drop (or more if desired) of food coloring. Olivia picked green food coloring. Gently swirl the bottle to mix the contents. Then place the bottle in the middle of a large baking tray or dish.

Put a heaping teaspoon of baking soda in the middle of a tissue. Gather the edges and twist it shut. We cut off a little of the excess tissue to make it easier to fit into the mouth of the bottle.

Then wait for the fun to begin! It can take a minute or two to really start foaming. It helps to gently swirl your bottle as time goes on to keep the process going

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The first signs of foam.

So what's going on? When you mix vinegar and baking soda, it makes a gas called carbon dioxide. This forms bubbles in the vinegar. The bubbles of gas react with the dish washing liquid to make foam. The whole combination reacts so much that foam pours out of the monster's mouth.

Olivia enjoyed this so much that she asked to do it again! On the second go round we timed how long the foaming process went on - 8 minutes from when the baking soda was added!! So fun! The second time, Olivia decided to add a drop of food coloring to the top of the foam coming out of the mouth at random times. We enjoyed watching the green pattern that developed.

Take two.

The start of adding the food coloring to the foam.

The next pattern made me think of an apple on its side.

We are glad we did this project. I actually picked the project first and then thought about how it related to our life. So much comes out of our mouth. Let's all strive to have our words build people up instead of tear them down. I look forward to the time when we can share words in person.

Continued blessings,

Diane C.