There is a very interesting passage in Ephesians that talks about what our speech should be like.  Again I love the rendering of this passage from The Message in Eph. 5:3-4.  . . . Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect. 

To me, that is an awesome thought.  Most of us have experienced going to another part of the country and thinking that the people there talk funny.  They hear us and think that we talk funny.  We sometimes refer to people who talk like Yankees, or who talk “southern”.  We can usually tell something about a person just by hearing their dialect.  We can tell a “car guy” because he talks about cars.  We can tell a “sports guy” because he talks about sports.

 Paul says that for a Christian, thanksgiving is our dialect.  Imagine people standing around listening to us and saying we must be Christians, because they hear so much thankfulness in our speech.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be identified like that?  Let’s work on it.