My Momma always said, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t
say anything at all.”
My sweet husband has to remind me at times to “be nice.”
Society reminds me that once a word is spoken, it cannot be
taken back.
With all of these reminders I would think it should be easy
to speak kind words, yet more often than I care to admit, my words are
critical, judgmental, hurtful… for those who hear those thoughtless words fall
from my lips, those who are the recipient of my misplaced judgment, and for
myself.
I dare to say that our critical words are rarely
intentional. We are not speaking them
with the intent of tearing down the person we are talking about, hurting our witness
to the one we are speaking to, or planting roots of bitterness in our
hearts. I dare to say that if we thought
about our words before we spoke them, and the ramifications they have on so
many, we would more carefully chose the words that we give a voice.
Let’s not think of this as a challenge, but rather think of
it as gift. The gift of life.
The tongue has the power of life or death.
Proverbs 18:21
Let us pause and think before we speak. We don’t know the situations behind a person’s
actions or words, so we must be careful to speak life, speak blessings. Our words may be what they need to hear. Our words may encourage them and turn their
hearts from pain to Jesus.
Maybe she has gained a few pounds while worrying over a health
problem or is dealing with a broken relationship.
Maybe the worn out pants he wears all the time are the
nicest ones he has.
Maybe she doesn’t know how to reach out to her daughter, but
is doing her best.
Maybe he isn’t as shallow as you think, he is putting up a
front to hide a broken heart.
Maybe your heart needs to hear how beautiful you are, not
another daily reminder of your “flaws.”
My prayer is that we will use our gifts of life beyond the
next 7 days, or even the next 40 days, but that we would spend our lives
intentionally speaking life.
So I leave you with my prayers and a song…
Love it! Thanks for turning a negative into something positive. Speak Life!
ReplyDeleteI love this! What a wonderful reminder. And I love how you worded "we would more carefully chose the words that we give a voice." That is a wonderful word picture. I think we could take that and put a picture in a frame or a bumper sticker that reads to some extent or another:
ReplyDelete"Harvest of Life or Death: Carefully chose the words that we give a voice" and hang it in our offices and homes. Thanks again. Teri