There have been a couple of plant phenomena in our home recently.

It began when our purple orchid grew a flower stalk and produced a multitude of beautiful, long-lasting purple orchids. When they finally died down and my wife went to trim back the stalk, she saw what looked like it might perhaps develop into a new flower about half-way down the stalk, and she only cut the stalk back to that part. And so it was that the orchid looked ugly for a time with that half flower stalk sticking out of the greenery. My wife’s intuitions were true, however; about three months later, a new flower stalk grew out of the old one, and we watched with anticipation as the buds appeared and developed.

There was something wrong, however. The buds weren’t a deep purple-red colour as they usually were. Rather they were — a creamy white colour! We were tempted to wonder about this, but we convinced ourselves that we were imagining it. We didn’t have any other orchids blooming at the time. Perhaps we had simply forgotten what colour purple orchid buds usually were! Besides, purple was the only colour orchids we owned. How could there be any other colours than that?

Imagine our utter astonishment when those buds opened into beautiful, creaming-white flowers…

How can this be?

We asked a local orchid specialist about this, and he had no explanation for us….

A few weeks later, my wife was out inspecting a newly-planted Coneflower that had just started to bloom. The beautiful flowers were a lavender colour with a jet-black interior … except for this one … It was a rusty-red colour, and a bit smaller in size with wider petals. My wife looked carefully, and it was growing from a stem that had other lavender flowers on it…

How can this be?

The Apostle James had a similar “How can this be” question, only his wasn’t one of simple curiosity; his was one of utter shock and disbelief: “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.” (James 3:10-12 NIV)

It’s true, isn’t it? Out of each of our mouths flow words of praise, words of joy and happiness, words meant to build people up; and then at the drop of a hat, those words turn to words full of hate and reproach, judgementalism and accusation, words that tear people down rather than building them up. How can this be? How can a spring spew forth both salt water and fresh? How can a grapevine bear figs? How can a purple orchid bear white orchids, or a lavender coneflower bear rusty-red blooms? Or … Wait … Those last two happened, and right at my own house!

Actually, to quote the Apostle James, he doesn’t exactly say, “how can this be”. Rather, he says, “this should not be”!

And perhaps the same can be said for my fickle coneflower and my confused orchid …

Nonetheless, whether it should or shouldn’t be, it happens. Our mouths bless on one breath and curse on the next!

I’m not really proud of the times this happens to me, and I suspect most of you aren’t exactly proud of those times when it happens to you, either; otherwise one would have to question how well rooted and grounded in the Lord we truly are. No, I believe that most of us truly wish in our hearts to show brotherly love. We love the Lord, and because Christ asks us to love one another, we truly desire to do just that … But something gets in the way sometimes. White blooms appear on our purple orchid plants! It isn’t always easy to love one another! And out of our “spring of fresh water” flows the words that we will later regret…

James knew it wasn’t easy to control our tongues. Earlier in the same passage James 3, he says: “All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” (Vs. 7,8 NIV). He also uses the analogy of how a great horse can be controlled by tiny bit, and a giant ship by a tiny rudder (See Vs. 3-4); nonetheless, we can’t control our tongues, and just as a tiny spark sets off a forest fire, one tiny wrong word can start a landslide of bad things (See Vs. 5-6). I don’t know about you, but I certainly wish I could take back many things I’ve said in the past!

So wherein lies the solution? I mean, James makes it seem pretty hopeless, like the tongue can’t be tamed, no matter how hard we try — and I believe I can attest to the veracity of that statement!

Fortunately for us, God’s grace is big enough to cover the wrong our tongues commit: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 8:1 NIV).

Not that this is a license to not try; it is simply reassurance that God has forgiven the mistakes of our tongues.

So what do we do?

We keep on trying. We pray and ask God to give us victory over our tongues: To show us when we’ve said something hurtful or judgmental and to give us a loathing for any bad things. If you pray this prayer earnestly, you will begin to notice a pattern. Slowly but surely, you will recognize the words that shouldn’t have been said as soon as you’ve said them, and you will begin to hate those words. When this happens, you apologize immediately. Slowly and over time, you will become aware of the words that shouldn’t be said before they exit your mouth and you’ll be able to put a stop to those same words before they have a chance to do harm. And soon, if you keep on diligently praying that prayer, your words will begin to resemble the coneflower in the yard: Loaded with the right flowers, with only occasional wrong ones.

The secret, however, is found in the book of Hebrews: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2a NIV).

What will it be? White flowers on a purple orchid? Rusty-red flower on a lavender coneflower? Curses flowing out of the mouth that you want to bless people with? Or will you try your best with God’s help to learn to control your tongue?

Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries