When “I is…” is Correct

            I must be more careful to not interrupt people when they talk. Several years ago, someone sent me a story that illustrated how interruptions created disruptions in the classroom:

TEACHER: “Ellen, give me a sentence starting with ‘I’.”

ELLEN: “I is...”

TEACHER: “No, No, Ellen. Always say, ‘I am.’”

ELLEN: “All right... ‘I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.’"

            I know I am called to offer grace in my everyday interactions with people. I am to be salt and light. The less I interrupt people, the more grace I offer people.

Seasoned with Salt

           When the great American composer, George Gershwin, passed away, a man who possessed more affection for Gershwin than he did musical ability decided to compose a musical elegy in Gershwin’s honor. Upon completion, he sought entertainer and composer Oscar Levant for an appraisal of his work.

            Eagerly, the neophyte played his piece for Levant, praying for Levant’s approval. He was disappointed.

            “I think it would have been better,” Levant told him, “if you had died and Gershwin had written the elegy.”

            I wonder if Paul had speech like this in mind when he wrote that Christians should fill their conversations with grace and “season them with salt.”

            Story source: Edmund Fuller

Sticks and Stones

           An old joke I love goes like this:

Two trucks loaded with a thousand copies of ROGET’S THESAURUS collided as they left a New York publishing house last Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

Witnesses were stunned, startled, aghast, taken aback, stupefied...

            Words do matter. An ill-timed word can wound forever. That’s one reason Paul wrote, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone”(Col. 4:6.)

Christian Speech

            Years ago, I heard a story about a woman, who had major surgery on her throat. The worst part came afterwards—she was not able to talk for six months. Having a husband and six children, this proved daunting.

            The family worked out a system; any time the mother needed one of the kids, she blew a whistle.  She carried a little note pad throughout the house, which allowed her to quickly scribble a note when needed.

            After six months, she was a changed woman. She also noticed that her kids behaved better than at any time, since they had been born.

Ultimately, she decided, “I'm never going to holler again.”  She further testified, “You would not believe how many of those notes I tore up and threw away, after I read what I wanted to say."