How to separate one from the other 

I poured some salt and then some pepper on this plate and asked Addison if she knew any way to separate them. She came up with a good idea or two, and we tried rubbing a balloon on my head and then hers (she does have a lot more hair to build up static electricity!) to lift the lighter pepper flakes out of the heavier salt crystals.

It worked OK, but some things are just hard to separate.

James‬ ‭3‬:‭8‬-‭12‬ ‭says, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”

It’s hard to separate the good from the bad in our speech oftentimes, but that’s so important. 

Mixing in anger can ruin it all. 

Mixing in selfishness or unkindness makes our words an unpredictable mess. 

We don’t have some sort of spiritual static electricity, but we do have our all-powerful God to help us. 

And one of the best ways God helps us separate our speech is by directing us moment by moment, showing us if we are speaking truth, if we should speak at all, and if we are speaking out of a pure heart to help the other person.