Sirach 13:13. "Keep words to yourself and be very watchful, for you are walking around with your own downfall."

We tend to forget or overlook how powerful our words are. We spew out hurtful words so easily, especially when we are angry, annoyed, or hurt, sometimes even when the one to whom we are speaking is not the one who hurt us! But words are creative, not with the same power as God's Word (thank goodness!), but in a very real way our words shape the reality around us. When we speak hatefully, the atmosphere around us becomes charged with negative emotions and people get hurt, sometimes even physically.

We truly are walking around with our own downfall, we can do more damage to ourselves and others with our tongues then perhaps any other part of our bodies. Because we speak almost constantly, because it is our primary way of interacting with other people, it can become easy to forget to carefully watch our speech at all times. We must indeed, as Sirach says, remain very watchful of our tongues and our words.