Powerful Words

“Our words have power. Use that power in a way that will show the love of God to each and every person that you come in contact with.”

“Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the Spirit” Proverbs 15:4 (NLT)

I find it amazing, yet also absolutely frightening, that mere words have so much power. It gives me so much hope, but it also brings me so much angst knowing this truth. Our verse today says that our words can build up and be a tree of life...growing and flourishing. Or they can crush someone’s spirit.

The weight of that statement is so heavy! Especially when I know that I’ve failed in this area oh so many times with my kids. 

I felt this weight one night when I tucked my daughter into bed. It had been…let’s just say quite the day. I had lost my cool so many times. My words were nowhere near gentle. As I tucked her in, she started to tear up and said “Mommy, I know I am a good kid and that sometimes I make bad decisions. But sometimes I think I am a bad kid because you tell me all the wrong and bad things I do, but you don’t tell me the good things that I do.” 

If I had to rank all the times I felt like a complete failure in my life, this would be at the top. In that moment I felt the weight of how powerful my words truly are. I want to build my kids up…not tear them down. 

I prayed to God in that moment that He would help me be more aware of what I say. I prayed that He would give me His strength to control my words and do all I can to speak life into my kids. 

But friends - we aren’t going to be perfect. There isn’t going to be this switch that we flip and we magically only speak with kindness and gentleness. We will mess up. This will be an area that will take continual prayer, practice and patience. We will have to be so cognizant of and careful about what comes out of our mouths. Personally, I find hope in the fact that we have a God who will help us bring life into others with our words. Our words have power. Use that power in a way that will show the love of God to each and every person that you come in contact with. 

Action Step: 

• Reflect: What can you do in hard moments that will allow you to stop and think about what you’re going to say or how you’re going to handle the situation? How can you show love instead of frustration? For example - if my kids are fighting and I feel my patience wearing thin, I send them to their room for 5 minutes so that we all have time to cool off before talking about what happened. This allows all of us to be able to have an actual conversation about what happened and learn from it, rather than just useless words being said that just end up hurting someone.  

• Pray. Pray that God helps you in this area. Pray that He speaks through you and helps you always remember the fact that your words hold so much power. 

Written by Kara, a mom who needs to watch her words