Put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. —Colossians 3:10
The most beautiful garden I’ve ever seen is on Vancouver Island. What makes it remarkable is that the site was once an eyesore. Used as a quarry in the early 1900s, it became an ugly gaping hole. But Jennie Butchart, the owner’s wife, envisioned something different. She planted countless varieties of trees, plants, and shrubs in colorful, brilliant combinations, transforming it into a spectacular garden!
If Jennie hadn’t filled the quarry with good soil and beautiful plants, the space would have filled up with dust, weeds, and stinky water. And when it comes to our hearts, it isn’t enough to clean out the bad. We need to intentionally fill those spaces with good seeds that will grow and fill our hearts with beauty.
Your speech transformation project won’t happen overnight. To see results, you’ll need to continually work on it. But if you cooperate with God’s transformation—by putting off the old and filling your heart and your mouth with good, new things—your garden will be filled with beauty.
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Conversation Peace: Improving Your Relationships One Word at a Time (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2004)
Scripture taken from The CSB
Make it Personal
Ask God to help you put off your old thoughts and speech patterns and replace them with new things that glorify Him.