Right Side, Left Side

James 3:4-5 - 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 

One story pops into my mind right away when I read this passage every time.

So it was a pretty nice day at the end of a really long and terrible week for weather. The sun was out and there were not many clouds we set into the water with our partners and paddled for what would be the last long day or paddling our canoes on this long trip. As we paddled through one large section of this massive lake things were fine, but as we got into an area between two islands the wind started blowing very hard. Soon the waves were kicking up and the wind was really strong coming into our faces. We had to keep our canoes aimed directly into the wind, if we moved off to the right or left even a little bit it would push the canoe sideways and the waves would start coming in over the side of the boat. It was started to get pretty stressful.

I was in the back of a canoe with someone, but we noticed that Amber and my German daughter (exchange student) Julia were really struggling… Julia was getting nervous and she and Amber were having a hard time controlling the boat. Every time I looked back they were further and further behind. Eventually I looked back and they have pulled the canoe all the way to the shore and they were walking their boat in the ankle deep water. This would take them all day to get to where we needed to be.

We switched and Julia got into the front of my boat. She was scared but she and I had built some trust over the year that we had lived together so we set back out into the waves and the wind. The wind was just as strong and the boat was just as hard to control… one wrong stroke and we were sideways. But Julia trusted me and listening to my words as I directed her which side of the boat to paddle on. I would yell “Right Side, Left Side” and one stroke at a time we made it against the wind to where we were headed.

This passage makes me think of that as I see how strong the wind can push a boat anywhere it wants, and how one slight move with your paddle and it will “rudder” the boat in any direction. But it is the power of words that I think about here, usually we use this passage in a negative sense that our words can tare people down and we need to tame our tongue, but that day on Lake Manitou we learned a lot about the power of your words. Amber and Julia were both trying their hardest to make the canoe go the right way, but they were not connecting… but when Julia got into the boat with me she could get past some of her insecurities and listen directly to my words, those words caused actions and she was able to do what was needed to be done to direct the boat. It’s not enough just to determine to NOT say bad things with our tongue, instead we need to learn how to use our words to HELP get you to where you want to be.

1) Can you think of a time that your words changed the outcome of a situation for the worse?

2) Can you think of a time that your words were used to change the outcome of a situation for the better?

3) So also the tongue is a _________ member, yet it boasts of _________ things.

4) What action steps will you take this week to allow you tongue to be used for Good and not Evil?

Take a minute and journal your thoughts here.