Verbal Vomit

If you've ever had children, you know the mess their vomit can make, especially on carpet. No matter how hard you try to clean it all up, there always seems to be a stain to remind you of who did it and when.

I made a little mess this week. It doesn't need much clean up, thankfully, but I have a mental reminder that I whined and vomitted, verbally, on friends who really didn't need the mess.

It's been Vacation Bible School all week - my first super-sized VBS program. Always great anticipation in the preparations, but by the end of the week all the volunteers and workers are ready for a break. By the end of Thursday morning, I was a semi-sick, ticking time-bomb, ready to blow, but desperately trying to hold it in. Oh how I tried to hold it in - like being truly sick and running to the toilet with your hand over your mouth as to not make a mess...(gross picture, I know, but do you get what I'm trying to say?). I ran to my bosses office and I spewed it all out, unfortunately. She wasn't alone - there were two other children's leaders in the room that I complained and whined to as well. I remember standing there spewing out the words of frustration and thinking, 'Stop throwing it all up! You're making a mess!' Was it abusive or rude? No. But there were other leaders in the room who might have been dealing with their own issues at the time, or celebrating the great week and all God was doing in the lives of these children! I really should have prayed it and not said it.

Taking back words once their said is an impossible task. A pastor once used the analogy of squeezing toothpaste out of the tube...once you squeeze the paste out, it's impossible to get it back into the tube. Verbal vomit is the same. Once the words are spewed out, there's no way to get them back in your mouth, you just have to clean it up. I've cleaned up a lot of my kids vomit over the past 17 years and it's never pretty, fun, or appetizing...but it must be done.

Side story - early on in my friendship with Robin, I knew she was very special. She and a few other ladies had come over to my house on Silver Oaks in Fort Collins. Cameron had eaten some corn bread with jalepenos baked in and had thrown up in the kitchen afterwards. While I got Cameron to the bathroom to clean him up, Robin was in the kitchen cleaning up the floor. I'll never forget this new friend who got down on her hands and knees to help a new friend clean up the mess.

What do I learn from this?
1. We all verbally vomit at some time, in some place, regretting our words.
2. To clean it up, we must get down on our hands and knees and ask the Lord to help us clean up the mess, and ask that He help us not repeat this offense! Maybe some healing needs to happen before we share the contagious sickness with others.
3. Sometimes, we need to intercede and help our friends when they verbally vomit, as we would if they actually had physically been ill.
4. Although the stains may remain after the clean up, time does help cover up our mistakes.

Psalm 141:3, "O Jehovah, set a guard to my mouth; keep watch on the door of my lips."