Paintbrushes and Tongues

Dr. Wendell Johnson was an American psychologist, speech pathologist, and the author of a famous book entitled People in Quandaries. Considered one of the earliest and most influential speech pathologists in the field, Dr. Johnson reveals in his book that through his studies he did not find one individual on Native American reservations that suffered from stuttering.

Here’s an excerpt from his book: “Interestingly enough, the word “stutter“, or a substitute for the word, is not even in the Native American language. If there is not word for stutter, how are you going to stutter? Words paints pictures.”

There are words I need deleted from my vocabulary. At the same time, there are words that need much more game time than I’ve allotted them.

We will only create what we can dream, and a negative vocabulary will only pollute the sky upon which we gaze to dream.

The scriptures explain that A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. Proverbs 15:4

Words, indeed, are spoken art. What pictures of possibility are you painting for those you lead?