Creator’s Promise to the Wisdom-Keeper

"Wisdom is found on the lips of a wisdomkeeper, but bruises are found on the backs of those with no desire to learn" (Proverbs 10:13, First Nations Version).

Among our Yakama people, we are taught not to throw words around carelessly but to carry the virtue of tma’aakni (respect). This virtue teaches us to keep a spirit of harmony and cooperation with all people.

In this teaching, we learn that words carry power. They are like arrows; once released, they cannot be taken back. In this proverb, we are taught that when it is wisdom that fills our hearts, then it is wisdom that spills out from our mouths. When a person lacks wisdom, they bring harm upon themselves and to those around them in the same way that a careless hand touching a hot stove gets burned.

I think of the times I’ve heard elders speak at community events. When an elder speaks, people listen. Their words are few, but each one carries weight. Their words often bring peace, direction, and healing. This is what it means to have wisdom on one’s lips—words that build up, guide, and protect.

We live in a dry area where there are a lot of wildfires in the summer. One flick of a cigarette out of a car window can set the mountains ablaze! Thoughtless words are similar—one bad word to someone else can bring so much destruction.

This proverb teaches us that those who don’t have a desire to learn, who ignore wisdom and the teachings of our elders, and who speak without care bring a beating down upon themselves. Just as a young person learns by correction, so the foolish eventually feel the rod of their own choices.

Creator has put these lessons in the world around us. When a river follows its course, it brings life and beauty, but when it overflows recklessly, it causes destruction. Words are like that. If they are spoken out of a heart filled with wisdom, they bring life. If words are spoken out of a heart filled with carelessness and lack of wisdom, they bring harm and destruction.

I hope we will seek understanding from Creator and listen to our elders, so that our hearts may be filled with good things that spill out from our lips. Speak with gentleness and truth. Listen and learn as much as you can with humility in your heart. Then your words will give life to others, like water gives life to a thirsty plant.

Choose your words with care today. Fill your heart with wisdom by listening to your elders and to Creator. Then what comes from our mouths will be a blessing to others, guiding them on a good path.

Prayer

Tamánwiła, place understanding in our hearts
so wisdom will flow from our lips.
Keep us from careless words,
and let what we speak
bring life, peace, and truth.

About the Author

Corey Greaves and his wife, Gina, are from the Confederated Tribes & Bands of the Yakama Nation. They founded Mending Wings in 2006 and have watched it grow to be one of the largest, spirituality-based youth organizations in the country (mendingwings.net). They have a family of four children and nine grandchildren and make their home in Toppenish, Washington, on the Yakama Reservation. Corey served as a youth pastor for the American Indian Evangelism Association/McKinley Indian Mission, where he pastored the largest Native American youth ministry in the Restoration Movement churches, as well as with the Central Washington Presbytery, where he facilitated the growth of the largest Native American youth ministry in the Presbyterian Church, USA.

Corey is a gifted speaker with a passion for his people and a deep love for Creator. He speaks at colleges, universities, conferences, churches, youth groups, and organizations across the U.S. He seeks to bring reconciliation between the Church and Native people by addressing both historical and contemporary challenges.