​Do You Kiss Your Momma With That Mouth?

I will forever have a picture in my mind of my older brother, Mike, sitting outside of Granny Tharpe’s laundry room on a hot summer’s afternoon, looking dejected, angry and slightly indignant with a bar of soap sticking out of his mouth. I don’t recall the brand of soap, but it was a nice shell white, or maybe it was antique white; I could never tell the two apart, but color aside, from the expression on Mike’s face, it wasn’t particularly tasty.

Now, Mike hadn’t talked back, or been rude to Granny in any way. He knew better than that. The issue at hand lay in the fact that Granny had heard him use the word, dare I say it, darn, in casual conversation through the kitchen window. Quickly thereafter she proceeded to grab him by the hair of the head, give him a good tongue lashing and after that she gave him a good tongue washing right there in front of God and everybody.

Lord have mercy, can you imagine what folks today would say about such a thing? I can tell you this though, Granny wouldn’t care one lick what they thought or said.

Granny didn’t even call momma to ask permission to discipline her darling little boy. She didn’t fear the DSS or any other governmental agency. Heck, (I hope she didn’t hear that), but heck, she didn’t fear God Himself when it came to raising children, because she knew His book and was following that Book as closely as she knew how.

You see, Granny wanted her grandchildren to grow up to be good citizens and decent, godly people and teaching them to watch their mouths was just part of the training.

As Mike’s younger brother I watched closely. I listened and I learned and from then on I did my darning well out of earshot; but there was one thing I never did in earshot or out. I never talked back, and I was never rude or disrespectful to my Granny.

First of all, that was because I loved her and would never want to hurt her. Secondly, it was because I had been taught to respect my elders by my momma and my daddy. Besides all of that, if I had talked back or been rude or disrespectful to my loving Granny, she would have knocked me clean back to the antebellum days and I would have deserved every last bit of it and more.

Lord, have mercy, where have all the Grannies gone?

If the television and the politicians and the folks down at Walmart and Best Buy are any indication, there hasn’t been enough soap in enough mouths for a long time now.

Now before you get all high and mighty and proud of yourself, your mouth just might be one in need of a little soap itself.

Eph 4:29
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
NIV

So how are you doing on that account?
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Personally, I plan on pleading the fifth and probably eating a little heavenly Lifebuoy in the long run.

Luke 6:45
45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
NIV
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Love,
Pastor Tony

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