WORDS MATTER

PRACTICE: Recall a time when your words hurt someone. Recall a time you were hurt by words.

“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” I finally get it! Many of us were taught this mantra by parents, grandparents and teachers to govern the tongue. Of course, some of us used it as a license to lie. I suspect that experience and intuition taught the grown-ups in our world that words really do matter. The flip side of that phrase could be the phrase “Stick and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.” This is a lie of mammoth proportion. Words do harm. Words can encourage. Words can destroy. Words build walls and words can tear them down!

For most of my adult life, I struggled with words that were spoken to me by a close but insignificant relative about my weight. The infrequently spoken words (I didn’t see the relative often), profoundly affected my self-image. They were a recording that played in my head on cue and triggered most times by a compliment from the significant others in my life. I couldn’t let the negative words go. Said another way – I allowed the words of the insignificant to trump the words of the significant presences in my life. I finally put the person and the negative words in proper perspective and after many battles, won the war!

Our words are our most powerful and precious resource – more powerful than money or fame. I have no trouble recounting the times when words have harmed me. Sadly, I may be less able to recall the times when words have encouraged me. I am even less capable of knowing all the encounters where I may have hurt others with my words. I do recall times when my spirit told me they did, and I apologized. I also know of times when my spirit nudged me to apologize and I hardened my heart and went on my merry way. Did I do harm to someone’s image?

Saying nothing, if it can’t be nice, is not always a viable option. The truth is not always nice. How you say it is absolutely an option…our words matter (sticks and stones break bones and words break hearts and spirits.) Could this be the reason we were also taught to “think twice before speaking?”

James 1:19-20

PONDER THIS THOUGHT – My words are more powerful than I know.