Words.

Words are powerful, and yet, so often they are spoken without us thinking about what we’re saying. Words can build people up and tear people down. They can give someone hope or extinguish someone’s last glimmer of it. They make you love and they make you hate. They can be like a warm hug or like a slap in the face.

Listen friends! Words have meaning. In Matthew 12: 36-37, Jesus says, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

I grew up in a culture where you compliment someone a little indirectly. For example, if you like something, you would rarely say, it’s good (c’est bien/bon). Instead you would say, it’s not bad (c’est pas mal/mauvais), which in theory it means the same thing, or at least close enough because if we live in a black and white world things are only good and bad so not bad means good, right? My mother (who is basically French now and has acclimated to this way of expression quite well) has said on more than one occasion, “Well I don’t dislike it, it’s just that there’s hardly anything to like…”

I have now come back to a culture where people are praised, and what feels like overly complimented when they do the smallest of things. If you like something you might as well love it. “This is sooo good!”, “These are my favorite! (or the best)”, “I LOVE …whatever thing or action here…!”, “Wow! That was awesome! (or amazing)”, and so much more… Do people even know what awesome means anymore? We use awesome as a synonym for extremely good or excellent. Awesome is to be filled with awe. Awe is ‘a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder’. Have you ever been filled with awe? I can only think of once in my life so far that I have really been filled with awe, and it wasn’t the result of earthly things, it was in the presence of The Lord. I was awestruck and that was awesome. I don’t know if anything can be awesome or truly fill you with awe without it being in reverence of The Lord.

Why do we tend to live in extremes? Why don’t we just say what we mean and mean what we say? My sister and I tend to be pretty straight forward people. We have found this to be a potential result of bouncing between cultures and being frustrated because no one was ever really saying what they meant.

Are we thinking about the words that come out of our mouth? About what we’re promising when we say “I promise.”, or does it just sound good? Have you ever made a promise just to get someone off your back about something? “Yea! I promise! I’ll fix it in a minute…” and it never gets done or you have to be reminded a few times. “Yea, I promise I’ll go (…wherever…) with you” and then cancel last minute, or maybe you just forgot and didn’t show up. Or how about this one, “I’m on my way!” and you haven’t even left the house or wherever it is that you happen to be yet… And then, has anyone ever reminded you of these things. “You promised!” and, “You gave me your word!” and your answer was “Yes, but…”?

Yeah, me too. I’m guilty of it all too. I’m not better than any of you, by any means. I’ve just grown to notice it. Because, well, I have trust issues, and I’m trying so hard to work through them and go through life trusting people, but if I can’t trust your word how can I trust you. I have been let down so many times by people’s word that I came to a point that I thought that the only person I could trust was me. Until one day God showed me that at times, I’ve tricked and let myself down, with my own words. So words became important to me, and some words that were so easy to say to others before, became hard to say. So, I decided that I want to be justified by my words, not condemned, and I’m making a conscious effort to do so.

 

So, my challenge to you this time is, think before you speak.

 

Signing off,

Ruthie