10-1-2023

Good Morning All,

          Proverbs 12:18; “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

     As children we were all told the old adage “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me.” Or maybe your version was “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never harm me.”  This tells us that we are not to worry about what someone says about us as simple words cannot harm us.  Well, welcome to the 21^st century!

    I think most of us have been there at one time or another.  Our mouth took off long before our brain was engaged, and we made some offhand unfair or cruel comment about someone only to see them standing behind us.  I know I have, and I felt about two inches tall after I did it.  It’s strange; you don’t know whether to make a big deal about it being a joke or just try and ignore it and hope it goes away.  I can remember some of the times that I coached baseball.  I would watch in horror as some adult (?) would yell and scream at a 10-year-old for striking out or dropping the ball.  I remember the pain in that child’s eye.  Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will kill your spirit.

    This is why I think one of God’s greatest gifts is the gift of the soothing comforter.  There are people who just seem to have a way of gently encouraging people.  They have a way of getting the person to smile, even under some pretty harsh situations.  It can soothe a very hurt and savaged soul just to have kind words spoken to them, especially after words of hurt have been hurled.  And we seem to have more hurled at us each day.

     I read an article about how children today are being “cyber-bullied.”  They are tormented day and night by other kids on the internet through text messages or Instagram.  I listened to a story on the radio about a man whose fiancée was killed by her jealous ex-husband.  One twisted and sick lady began an attack on him on a gossip website.  She had four different avatars or identifications on the site.  She would act like she was carrying on a conversation between the four of them.  He had to leave town, his children were shunned, and the parents of his now dead girlfriend refused to speak to him.   It took three years to get it all straightened out.  Words can cause a lot of pain.  Yet the opposite is true as well.

    The right words at the right time can bring about comfort, or encouragement, or hope.  The right word can calm fear or engender a desire to strive and to try to do your best.  The right word will bring about healing.  So, as you go about today; do some healing.  Say something kind especially to those who need it like the waitress or the store clerk or the mailman or the young gal with two little ones who looks so frazzled.  Using God’s gift of healing, using the soothing and kind words that He gives us to bring about a smile and some peace.

Gracious Lord, enable us by your Spirit to speak the words of kindness and love that you give to us. Help us to make the world a little less painful for those who battle the pain of unkind words.  Give them your Spirit of comfort and use us to be their hope.  In the name of Jesus our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret