“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
Psalm 19:14

I like words and quotes and pretty scripty fonts. I have words and phrases and scripture references deliberately hung and strategically placed all over our home. Recently one of our sons, in response to his amusement over my fixation with words, took it upon himself to go through every room of our house counting how many places he found words on signs or pictures…..suffice it to say, it was a big number. I think script is lovely to gaze upon and rich, meaningful words are a literary feast for my soul. Even many of my favorite pieces of jewelry are engraved with words that are hope-filled and life-giving to me. For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to and inspired by words.

As a homeschooling mom I was so pleased when my kids enjoyed exploring the application of vocabulary words that were new to them. At one point I even rewarded them with prizes for intentionally using words from their vocabulary and spelling lists during daily conversations. When our youngest was a wee chap and didn’t have a spelling list of his own yet, I was very impressed to hear him take it upon himself to use a word from his older sibling’s vocabulary list.

With surprising accuracy for such a little guy, he was finding appropriate places to insert the word “oxymoron” into conversations. I was overjoyed to affirm his verbal explorations. I assumed that he was either simply enjoying using a vocabulary word from his older siblings spelling list or that he was exercising his competitive spirit and seeking to keep up with his sibs and earn awards.

It wasn’t until many years later when he was 14 years old that he shared the following confession:
“When I was little, I loved saying the word ‘oxymoron’ because I could say ‘moron’ without getting in trouble.”
What?! Little stinker! No wonder he said “oxymoron” with bountiful gusto and frequency!

Jonathan’s teenage confession makes me want to examine my own heart for my own hidden intensions and sometimes ulterior motives with words that I say.
I am pondering today in addition to the significance of my words, the weightiness and importance of the purity of the meditation of my heart. The meaning, motive, and very reason for the words that come out of my mouth.

Our words. And the meditation of our hearts. By grace may they be pure, pleasing, acceptable… in the sight of God our rock and our redeemer who sees all and knows all.