In West with the Night, author Beryl Markham detailed her work with Camciscan, a feisty stallion she was tasked with taming. She’d met her match with Camciscan. No matter what strategy she employed, she could never fully tame the proud stallion, chalking up only one victory over his stubborn will.

How many of us feel this way in the battle to tame our tongues? While James likens the tongue to the bit in a horse’s mouth or a ship’s rudder (James 3:3–4), he also laments, “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be” (v.…