Words. You read them. You write them. You speak them. You sing them.
They can be encouraging, devastating, enlightening or soothing.
Purposeful or not, what would we do without them? Without them, communication would be challenging… an effort beyond what I could ever imagine.
How would we thank a friend who helped out in a troubling time?
How would we teach?
How would we learn?
How would we celebrate?
How would we write a sympathy card?
How would we connect with loved ones who live miles away?
How would we praise a job well done?
How would we parent our children?
How would we express our love?
A few words can heal all emotional wounds or crush a relationship forever. As quickly as words can form a friendship, they can isolate and destroy with a swiftness beyond comprehension.
Words are in the everyday… the emails we receive, the assignments we write, the signs on the road and the directions we give.
Words are in the creative… in the music that we hear, the poems that we read, and the books that we get lost in.
Words are in governance… the laws that we follow, the politicians’ platforms, the petitions we sign, the cases that are pleaded and the verdicts that are passed down.
Words are in our spirits… the thoughts that we think, the meditations we dwell on, the praises we sing, the sermons we hear, the Bibles we read, and the prayers that we say.
Words are the beginning and the end. From our first cry to our last goodbye. They connect us; they inspire us, they allow us to communicate what’s in our hearts and minds.
Words are everywhere.
Today I will not take them for granted, and I will use them with purpose. Today, I am thankful for words.
A special thank you to Sofia from Sofia’s Ideas for inviting me to participate in this blog posting link-up.
This posting was refreshed on November 11, 2014
Oh goodness…that says so much and goes so deeply. Lots of thinking going on here now :)
A good demonstration of your purpose in this post. Powerful stuff.
Um, I read this like four times already! Is it just me or is your blog just getting better and better? Your posts always make me THINK, or SIGH, or feel INSPIRED. I love this space of yours!
I love that you said “TODAY” I will use them with purpose because I feel like I anyone do that, for one day, and see what transpires. Sometimes, I say something to my husband or one of my children and I think about it later and feel guilty. Its not necessarily the words I’m using, but its the tone. I need to watch my tone. We all need to!
I don’t know how this happened, but I think over the years, our ideals got diluted. Or, I should say, we allowed them to become diluted. It became more & more “acceptable” to speak to each other with this snotty attitude because we’re grumpy, then we apologize for it later on. But, its not okay, its not acceptable, and I despise that this has even become an issue in our home! I have always said that it takes like a 100 positive things to now overcome the damage that 1 negative thing did. But it never goes away; its always there, you can never take it back.
I actually just brought this back up the other day, but I really want my husband and I to focus on this. We are setting the example, the children will follow our lead. How do I go about making sure we stay accountable to ourselves and each other?
I was JUST thinking about this earlier this afternoon; about how thankful I am for words and what a joy it is to write. The tongue (and the keyboard) are powerful tools that need to be used wisely and with grace and love. Great post!
It’s funny because I was working on refreshing this post and that’s what inspired me to write the post: What’s YOUR Story.
Words are remarkable and I think we often take them for granted.
Thanks for sharing Erin!