"Do you say what you mean and mean what you say?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

Do you give someone the cold shoulder? This phrase comes to us from the Middle Ages when if you overstayed your host’s welcome, you were served a big shoulder of cold beef rather than a nice hot roast. You were supposed to get the message and leave.

Do you bring home the bacon? In the 12th century, a church in Britain awarded cured bacon strips to newly married couples if they could swear, after their first year of marriage, that they had never once regretted their decision to marry each other. If they could, they brought home the bacon.

Do you stew in your own juices? I hope not, at least not in the original 13th century use of the phrase. Back then, it was a euphemism for being burned at the stake, where you literally, stewed in your own juices.

Sometimes we use a phrase and don’t really know what it originally meant. Sometimes we say something and don’t really know what it means.

Say what you mean and mean what you say as you talk with God today. But more importantly, listen to life first.

Discover more great stories like this one!