I used to cuss a lot. I mean A LOT. My Mom cussed like a sailor – I was used to it, right? But you should have seen the faces of those confused strangers when those words would come out of a petite (5’2″) lady with a West Virginia accent.

Seeing her in action was amusing as long as Mom was not hollering at me. I was 5′ 4″ of medium build. No accent. This made me a young lady with bad manners – not amusing.

Years & years later, I was studying the Bible and came across this letter that Paul, the apostle, wrote to the congregation in Ephesus.

“Let a rotten word not come out of your mouth, but only what is good for building up and, as the need may be, to impart what is beneficial to the hearers.”
— Ephesians 4:29

I asked my teacher if the author meant calling people names or cussing. She asked me to read the entire scripture again, and this time notice what kind of words I should be using.
Words good for building up and beneficial to the hearers.

Oh.

When Mom got mad and bombed me with cuss words, they never built me up. In fact, the anger and viciousness in her voice scared me. The word that comes to mind is “hateful.”

Anyone around that could hear her was probably not benefitting from this either. Hey, Mom; sorry to use you as an example, but I didn’t know of anyone else in the family that cussed like you did. Until my daughter grew up. Now she cusses like her mamaw. This probably makes you proud in some twisted way – Ha! You were always a rebel.

As for me, I will try to eliminate the rotten words and learn to express myself in positive ways. It will be a challenge.