“Phew, what is that smell?” I asked my husband after noticing a strong odor in our Zambian home for several days.

“I was wondering the same thing. It seems to be coming from our water,” my husband said.

After checking several things, my husband climbed up our water tower and emptied our water tank. Not until all the water was gone and he started cleaning the container, did my husband notice the rotten dead owl in the bottom of our tank!

How it got inside our sealed car-sized plastic tank, I don’t know, and why no one got sick is only by God’s protection.

We expected our water source to be clean rather than contaminated. In the same way, as Christians, our speech should be healing rather than hurtful.

I have struggled with this. One minute I’m spouting encouraging sentences to a friend, while criticizing my husband at home. This should not be.

Our speech should be consistent, “seasoned with grace” (Colossians 4:6) just like we desire fresh, sweet water.

“Praising and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers, these things should not be this way. Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening? Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a saltwater spring yield fresh water.” (James 3:10-12)

Words have power and originate from the "abundance of our hearts” (Matthew 12:34).

If we are going to have helpful words, we need to start with our hearts. What is rotting in our hearts?

Unconfessed sin. Bitterness. Pride. Covetousness. Or maybe you don’t know. It may require some soul searching before the Lord like the Psalmist who prayed, “search me and know me” and “see if there is any offensive way in me” (Psalm 139:23-24).

Maybe we need to talk to a trusted friend or counselor. Or call a friend to restore a relationship. Whatever it may be, after we remove the rotten things in our hearts, our hearts will start to heal and our words will change too.

Just like when the rotten owl was removed from our water tank, our water source was fresh again. May we keep our hearts clean and words healing like a spring of water.