My friend, George, is an auctioneer in the farming world. Recently he had a bad chest infection and lost his voice. I imagine he was completely unable to do his job which would entail him projecting his voice over a noisy, boisterous crowd of men and women. Fortunately his cold is now entirely better. His voice has returned and he is able to do his job.
At this time of year we think of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist who was unable to speak for a period which I imagine was nine months. Fortunately, he had the ability to write but that would have been time-consuming. As a Jewish High Priest talking was a necessary requirement for his job. Life would have been difficult for Elizabeth as well, expecting a baby and having to take over all the speaking tasks needed in running a household.
Do we take for granted the gift of speech? Is it a gift we abuse? We know so well, and sometimes to our cost, that a word once spoken can never be retracted. We read in Proverbs 25:11 ‘A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in baskets of silver.’ A lovely picture, though not for eating! James 3:9 tells us ‘With the tongue we praise our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s image.’
What we say, to whom we say it, when we say it and how we say it can be encouraging or damning.