The Power of Words

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The other morning my son came into my bedroom as he does every morning.  After a momentary greeting, I told him to wake his sister by turning on the light and saying good morning to her.  Now, every morning, he turns on the HALLWAY light, which then wakes my daughter.  Therefore, I did not feel the need to specify which light he was to illuminate.  A few moments later, I hear a high-pitched squeal, "That was SO MEAN!"  Apparently, my son decided to turn on my daughter's bedroom light in order to see that she awoke at the proper time.  I quickly jumped up and apologized to my little girl.  My assumption cost my daughter a rude awakening.

So often, we carelessly throw our words around through either idle chatter, careless assumptions, or other forms of hurtful speech.  The Bible has much to say about how our words matter.  Proverbs 21:23 states, "Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble."  This small verse cites great wisdom.  The challenge is to think about how our words affect others.  The fact that I left out the small word "hallway" in my instructions to my son meant that my daughter suffered a harsh arousal.  This is but a small example of the power of words.  Yet, it has made me think more carefully about how I communicate to others.



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