by K L Humphreys

Created on: April 21, 2009

I have always had an interest in words and how they are used and why people use them in particular ways. I didn't realize the importance of words until I became a Christian over 30 years ago and now I know how they can affect us in positive and negative ways.

Once you understand words and phrases and how they sound to others you will become aware of what you say and to whom.

Let's look at some examples: "If you don't be quiet I'm going to slap your face off"!

So where's my face going? Will it be like what happened to Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny? Will my face slide around to the back of my head and now I can see where I've been?

"You are driving me crazy", "I am tickled to death", "I'm so hot I'm burning up"! Well let's think about these three outrageous statements. If I am driving you crazy, can I watch? If you are tickled to death how are you're still talking about it? As for burning up I don't even see any smoke.

Now I know you are thinking, no I have an idea what you're thinking and it might be that I'm too detailed about silly little phrases that don't mean a thing, but I disagree.

One of my favorite scriptures is in Proverbs 18:21, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eats it's fruit".

When you begin to listen to yourself and others you will begin to understand why people are what they speak about themselves.

"Oh he will never amount to anything he will be just like his father." Gee the kid is four days old and he is already a failure all because someone spoke negative words over and over to him and family.

So little Johnny grows up believing he's a nobody because Aunt Jane told him and the family and Aunt Jane must be right after all she's always right or so everyone thinks and believes.

When I worked in retail I enjoyed teasing the other employees, particularly the ones that I supervised, about their words.

What do you think of when someone tells you their feet are killing them? Most folks automatically think their feet hurt, but I immediately think what weapons are their feet using, knives or guns?

I was in charge of giving lunchbreaks and there was always someone who was more impatient, and was sure they were "starving to death"! Of course I would ask them when was the last time they had eaten, and it was usually breakfast, so they were not starving they were only hungry.

I know these sound funny and we can giggle and laugh but there are times when words have a disastrous affect on others. Most of us have heard the old saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."

What a cover-up to protect our feelings and emotions from words that hurt more than any stick or stone.

There are so many things we all say that if and when we think about it, and how we could affect ourselves and those around us. Hopefully we will begin to encourage, enlighten, compliment and brag on others, and witness that we are now lifting folks up instead of pulling them down.

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