Few things are as unique to the human experience as putting your foot in your mouth. Sometimes we do it unintentionally, carelessly. Other times, we lash out aiming to do the most amount of damage as is verbally possible. We all have the tendency and the propensity to do it, especially when not leaning on the Holy Spirit to temper our emotions.

And yes, I am also speaking to myself.

“Don’t be a yente.” 

That’s how my mother would scold me when I was a child and being meddlesome or a busybody. It was always a funny word that made me giggle, but the rebuke was there even if it was made in jest. ‘Yente’ is a yiddish word for a gossiper, which from what I can tell, became a more popular term from the play Fiddler on the Roof, the actual name of the matchmaker in the show that arranges the marriages for their small, Jewish village in Ukraine. 

This should give you a better picture if you’re unfamiliar with the term: a yente is a meddling gossip, a known busybody, or a tale-bearer. She always has a story and always has the latest word on who’s who and what’s what.

Words are important. More than anything, they are our legacy. They have the power to affect those around us and the ability to outlive us and be remembered long after we’re gone. This weekend, my whole family was in town visiting. My grandmother made a craft for the ladies to do before we went to a high tea luncheon and asked me to create a devotion to go along with it.

2020 has been a major year for me in learning to tame my tongue. It started earlier this year when my manager at work started calling me out for speaking harshly on the phone. And maybe I knew it was true, but I didn’t realize how deep my problem ran. I mean, everyone does it at one time or another. I always had an excuse.