You're reading Soft Words by Spell Outloud. If you've enjoyed this post, consider following SpellOutloud on Twitter and Facebook
Sometimes we know something but we don’t do it. For instance, we know we should speak kindly to each other, but in reality, our tones often don’t reflect kindness. I came up with a visual reminder to help our family remember to use “soft” words.
Speaking Kindly To Each Other
Yesterday I was reading My ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt
We sang the verse a couple of times to the tune of “Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush”
A soft answer turns away wrath
turns away wrath
turns away wrath.
A soft answer turns away wrath
Proverbs 15:1
Then I decided that we should try to illustrate the verse.
Now when we look at our picture we made, we sing the song while pointing to the words. She enjoyed making her own Bible verse page.
Well wouldn’t you know it, that while we were working on this project I could hear my older kids not using nice tones with each other, blaming and teasing. This is starting to be a bad habit around here. So, since that verse was fresh in my mind, I thought that we should apply it to our family life.
I found an old plastic jar and created a cute label using digital scrapbooking supplies. I used spray adhesive to glue it onto the jar.
The picture above is what I hope our jar looks like at the end of the week. I placed all the colored pom poms (soft words/soft answers) in a container next to the jar. Then I encouraged all the kids to be listening for when one of their siblings used soft words/soft answer when talking with each other. This meant instead of automatically using an accusing tone with each other, or an annoyed tone, that they used a peaceful, gentle tone. Instead of blaming and accusing right away, that they took the time to talk it out nicely to find out all the facts first. If they or their siblings were trying, then they could add a colored pom pom into the jar. They could even catch me trying to use soft answers too. I’m praying that this exercise will help all of us, mom and dad too, realize how we are relating with each other with our words. That we will be more aware of the tone we use, the attitude behind our words and that our conversations with each other will be more loving.
One of my readers also suggested:
Thanks! Your pom poms in a jar gave me an idea! I am working on an angry words lesson and was looking for a way to do an object lesson on Prov. 15:1. After seeing the pom poms, I decided to have the kids drop marbles on a cookie sheet to illustrate what harsh words do and then to drop pom poms on the cookie sheet to illustrate a gentle answer.
You Might Also Like:
