Growing up, you probably heard the phrase “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me”. If you didn’t, consider yourself lucky! I am not sure I have heard a more bold face lie than this phrase. There were many times where peers would say mean things and this phrase would come out of the mouth of those the barbs were directed to. In a Utopian world this phrase would be accurate but unfortunately we don’t live in a world where this is the case. This is probably one of my biggest fears in not only my son but also in each and every child which I come in contact with daily. I know these young minds don’t necessarily grasp the breadth how the words they choose have and effect on those who they are using them towards or even those who are in the audience around them.
This past Wednesday, I had the opportunity to travel back to Pflugerville High School to participate in a basketball officials meeting. On Wednesday nights in the fall, PHS hosts a fall league for the area high school boys teams. This is a well attended event drawing a very diverse crowd to watch the talents of young men from across Central Texas. While walking in to a place where I enjoyed and devoted 8 years of my life, I was disappointed with a group of students who were throwing curse words and derogatory remarks towards each other and acted as though it was just normal conversation among themselves. I thought to myself about where our communities and young minds are headed if these are the types of situations and conversations which they are subjected to each and every day. Now I understand this type of behavior is not localized or even centralized at PHS. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to hear this while visiting on Wednesday night.
Our words as Christians have a HUGE influence on those around us. In the book of James, (Chapter 3, verses 2-10) the author tells us about bridling our tongue and what a hard job it is to bridle it. With the same mouth which we can praise the name of our Lord and Savior, we can degrade and tear down the very relationships which we are called to build up. We are called to build up those who are around us but at times we do the exact opposite with our tongues. Think of the power you have with you words. The crazy thing about words is once they are uttered, you cannot take them back. Sometimes the hurt which you have caused it very difficult to overcome or be forgiven for. There have been plenty of times in my life which those who I hold the dearest to me have been hurt by words which I have used so I am as guilty as you might be. We need to be more aware of the power of our tongue and the things which our words can do. We can choose to build those up or tear them down but remember the idea of ONLY sticks and stones hurting us is a lie.
