Words

This month, my Etsy shop is raising funds for the Wartella Family. They are in the process of adopting 2 children from Ethiopia. Learn more about their family HERE. 50% of the purchase price of every item in my Etsy shop will go toward their adoption this month. Click HERE  to see the jewelry that you can buy (all inspired by literature). 

 

We have to be so careful with our words. They can be daggers, you know. We don’t need to name-call or label or jab at one another. The scars from those wounds heal. But leave jagged, rough lumps on our hearts. Even if we can forgive.

My kids know not to say dangerous words. We taught them early. We teach them daily. The lessons will carry over until adulthood.

Tongues are not trained overnight, are they?

Bones broken by sticks and stones are healed by casts and surgeries.

The words that aren’t supposed to have the power to hurt are venom rich. Acidic. Caustic.

We toss the acid at one another. So casually. Without thought. Without regret. Remorse. Fear. Burning each other’s souls with our carelessness. Our inconsideration.

We figure that if it is done in an email, a comment, a post that it’s not hurtful. Not real. Because we don’t see the look on the face of our prey. We can’t hear their sobs.

They must be too sensitive.

I didn’t mean it that way.

Snipe. Jab. Blow. Destroy.

Create a division between us and them. Call them a nasty name. Attack people we don’t even know. Decide that they are destined to hell simply for the fact that we believe we are right and they are wrong.

Judge. Condemn. Dismiss.

It runs both ways, my friends. Both poles suck out the air. Toss daggers. Slap faces that will not be turned in peaceful resistance. Force loads on the backs that will not consider the extra mile. Demand a tunic without  receiving the shirt, too.

No more.

Please. Have mercy.

Think before you speak. Comment. “Like”. Re-post.

Consider the other.

Is it worth being right?

Or can we, who are flawed, learn a lesson from the Master?

The One who stooped low. Ran his perfect finger through the dust of the earth.

The One who could righteously throw a stone.

Or acidic words.

Or condemnation.

The One who, instead, chose to Love.