Last Saturday we had all our neighbours round. 18 people turned up and it was fabulous to start to get to know them all. At one stage I took our next-door-adjoining-neighbours round the house. They were fascinated to see the mirror image of theirs and all the changes that had happened since they last saw our place some five years ago.

As we walked round the house, we had a good view of their garden from one of our upstairs rooms. They commented on a few of their plants overgrowing onto our garage. I noticed a small sort of kennel structure in the corner of their garden and asked if they had a dog.

Steve looked surprised. ‘No, we haven’t got a dog,’ he said.
‘What is the kennel for then?’ I asked, completely innocently. ‘That’s a play house I built for the children, years ago,’ he explained.

‘Whoops!’ I thought. Fortunately, he took it very good-humouredly! We get on brilliantly with the whole family who have three teenage children who are fun, helpful, polite and great at playing with our boys and devouring my cakes with deep appreciation.

Later on, I was unpacking some things in Sam’s room and glanced down into their garden again. The kennel/playhouse had been completely dismantled. In its place was a neat pile of roof tiles and wood.

I made a mental note to be more careful with my words.

Each of us has the ability to build things, or to tear them down with what we say. We can speak life, or death into situations, rightly and wrongly. Take care with your tongue today, it could have sharper edges than you thought.