Once it's out, it can't go back in!

Last night my wife did something that I won't soon forget and hopefully my sons won't either. Tired of the recent rash of critical words and general bad attitudes coming out of their mouths (usually aimed at each other) she wanted to show them something that would hopefully graphically illustrate what she saw was the problem.

She went and got a tube of toothpaste and a paper plate and handed them to my oldest son. She then asked him to squeeze out all the paste onto the paper plate. At first, he just laughed thinking she was just being silly, but then when she told him again to do it in a firmer voice, he knew she was serious.

So he squeezed out all the toothpaste onto the paper plate into one big glob in the center of the plate. Then she took the squeezed tube and the pasted plate and handed it to my youngest son and asked him to put the paste back into the tube. He laughed nervously not knowing if she was really serious or not. She was.

So after only a moment's hesitation, he started trying to put the paste back into the squeezed out tube. It was a mess. And he soon discovered it was also impossible to do.

Then Shannon, my very wise wife, told the boys (me included) that when our words leave our mouth, they are impossible to take back. Putting your spoken words back in your mouth is as easy as putting toothpaste back in a tube you squeezed it out of.

So be mindful of your words that you speak to each other. They have great potential for ill or for good. Once it's out, it can't go back in!