Several years ago a powerful and very destructive wind/rainstorm blew through our state. Our small community was right in its path. Trees were uprooted, houses and cars smashed. In a nearby community two people lost their lives as a result of a very large tree forcefully flung on their vehicle. Our little house is nestled in the woods which in calmer days is peaceful and beautiful. On that afternoon, however, we watched as large trees normally standing tall were bent over parallel to the ground!! Some were forced to let go of large limbs while others just broke under the strain. Some were torn out by the roots and flung haphazardly breaking down whatever was in their path.
In the morning I began the cleanup task. Our lovely home which my husband had given a good power washing just months earlier looked as though someone had power-sprayed it with dirt and leaves. Our roof was covered in branches and leaves and my deck was littered with leaves and tree-dirt in 2” high piles. Our driveway, bare just minutes before the storm, was covered in leaves, sticks, branches and limbs. Since our electricity was out I would have to wait until I could begin the real cleanup with my trusty leaf blower!
The following day we had power!! I got busy blowing leaves into piles and then began to rake the sticks that lay on the stones of our driveway. Hmmm, sticks and stones; sound familiar? The rhyme began to run through my mind as I worked; “sticks and stones will break my bones but words can never hurt me.” Really? In my experience, words are just as powerful as that wind that came and brought destruction. In my mind the rhyme reworded saying, “Sticks and stones may crush my bones but words can make or break me.”
Recently at our church, a visiting speaker shared this profound thought, “Every word we say affects someone positively or negatively.” I believe this is true and God’s word also tells me that it is. James 3:10 tells us that with our words we can bless or curse. Obviously the latter is what God tells us, “ought not to be!” Proverbs 14:1 says, “Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tear it down with her hands.” If I may take the liberty to I will comment that whether woman or man, girl or boy, husband, wife, coworker, or brother or sister in Christ, we can build or tear down not only with our hands but with our words. Whether you live in a small town or an urban area anyone can fall prey to gossip and slander. If you give in to it you may “break” someone and irreparably ruin their reputation by sharing something that you heard or that you think even if you really don’t know the person about whom you are speaking. You have just effectively “cursed” them. You are a force of destruction upon them and the debris can be deadly to them, to others and to you. My friends, “this ought not to be!” In our lives, how many times have we been reminded to “think before we speak?” The Bible tells us that God “spoke the worlds into existence” and “by His word He created all things”. Creation does “speak of Him” and we have been given by Him the ability above all of His earthly creation to speak and communicate. Let’s ask Him every day to give us creative and uplifting speech that will “bless” everyone we talk about or to. May He forgive and deal more graciously with us than we have dealt with others when we fall into words of “stick and stones”. Let’s not let that be said of us! Let’s be a community of blessing! Let it be said of us that no gossip or slander resides in their lips. Let it be in us as Psalm 19:14 says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”