WORDS - Why You Gotta Be So Mean?!

WORDS...
A single word can have profound impact on a person's life.

Flirt
Hussy
Tramp
Jerk
Creeper
Stalker
Cheat
Loser

They say "talk is cheap."
I beg to differ with them. Talk is anything but cheap! Words can be divisive, harsh, and crush the spirit. What happens when these types of words are spoken isn't "cheap," it's life-altering stuff.

WORDS...can cut life a knife, shatter fragile spirits, take down the strongest of men.
Used simply, used profoundly, used in spite, they can never be taken back and I find that I don't think enough before I speak. I tend to just spew.

In James it talks about the words we use. How they can be constructive and steer but that the tongue is also deceitful and well - just plain mean.

At the age of 13 I was told that I would never amount to anything. I suppose it was because my favorite past time at that point was laying around reading books, but that statement has plagued me ALL of my life. Whenever I want to just sit and relax it plays through my head. Since I have been physically sick and it's affected my productivity, it has severely plagued me.

There was another time in my life when in a fit of anger someone very close to me devastated me. The words spewed from her mouth, quiet and cutting. There was no erasing them from my mind. They cut DEEP. She told me that she would never respect me ever again and it broke me. I was devastated.

Similar stories have come from the young teens I've had the privilege of knowing like A. Her dad told her she was worthless. Or C, whose mom told her life would be so much easier if she wasn't around. And then there was K, her mom screamed at her repeatedly, "I wish you'd never been born." How can this be? How could a mother ever come to feel that way?

I'm so thankful that God isn't like this. That his Word never changes. His Truth remains. And though I am human, I have determined that I need to stop and think before I speak. I need to weigh my words and make sure what I am saying is breathing life and not death. Lately I think I've been breathing death...a lot. The Taylor Swift song..."Why you gotta be so mean?" plays through my head a ton right now because well...I am just that...MEAN. :(

I guess the good thing about realizing that I am a meanie is that it causes me to stop and ponder the state of my heart. Since out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. If what's coming from me is mean and I'm breathing death rather than life - well, then I know I need to stop and consider and work on my heart. Yeah I can blame it on others around me. Yeah I can justify until I'm blue in the face - but that's not going to change the fact that the only person speaking the words is ME.

I have also found that rather than speaking in spite, or verbal vomit, I prefer to turn to humor. Finding humor in something that frustrates helps me to speak life once again. Seeking God's Word of encouragement or as our family puts it, EDIFICATION helps me build others up rather than tearing them down. And a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold. And that's how I truly know talk isn't cheap!

So next time "Why you gotta be so mean" is playing in your mind and you think you're about to blow just take a deep breath and STOP, DROP & ROLL!
STOP what your saying,
DROP the bitter brouhaha, and
ROLL out some sweet words of edification!! :)