General Robert E. Lee Controls His ...

General Robert E. Lee controls His Tongue

General Robert E. Lee was once asked what he thought of a fellow officer in the Confederate Army, an officer who had made some mean-spirited remarks about him. Lee thought for a moment, then rated him as being very satisfactory. The person who asked the questions seemed troubled. “But General, I guess you don’t know what he’s been saying about you.” Oh yes, answered Lee. I know. But I was asked my opinion of him, not his of me” controlling our tongue is one of life’s greatest challenges. The tongue is very small but very powerful. The primary function of the tongue is to chew, swallow, and to speak. Animals such as the lizard, ant-eaters, frogs, use their tongue for food gathering. The human tongue has over 9000 taste buds. Most people think that the bumps on our tongue are the taste buds. They are on the surface, but smaller than the bumps on the tongue. The medical term for the bumps are papilla and they are used to create friction between the tongue and the food. 85 % of the people can curl their tongue into a tube. Tell the truth You just tried it The Guinness world record for the longest tongue is not Gene Simmons from the band KISS. It is Stephen Taylor at 3.74 inches long. The tongue muscles that guide your food are the same muscles you use to speak. From there the problems deepen. As babies we teach our children to talk, waiting anxiously for them to say their first words. As they get older, say teenagers, we wish they could be quiet, say till they are 30 years old. Words are like dynamite, if used properly and in the right place they are beneficial. Used improperly and in the wrong place they can produce a lot of damage. Which words would you like to hear? I love you, your important to me, thank you, you look nice. Or you disgust me, I hate you, never speak to me again. James wants us to understand something here this morning. Words are powerful They can tear down or build-up. They shape our lives and define who we are by the words we use.

From a sermon by Anthony Zibolski, Taming the Tongue, 2/6/2010