Toothpaste? Yes! Toothpaste and a great Sunday school class and lesson.

“Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3).

My sister Kimberly was teaching the little boys and girls in her Sunday school class about the importance of our words. What a clever idea she had in purchasing enough small travel tubes of toothpaste for each child. Sitting at their table she told them to squeeze all the toothpaste out of the container. When they finished, she told them, “Now I want you to take your finger and put it back in the tube!” Of course, that was impossible.

The lesson is, once we say something hurtful, we can be forgiven, but we can’t take it back! What a vivid illustration for each of us.

This is my goal, especially today: I want to be careful in my choice of words as well as the tone of my speech. My words can be hurtful or helpful. Do you remember the children’s chorus that says, “O be careful little tongue what you say….”