Words Matter

Words matter.


I have learned just how much in these months since my stroke last year. I have always loved words, but in these months of struggling for the right word, of not being able to connect with the word I'm trying to say, of not understanding the word I'm being given...all that has given me a new appreciation for the power of words.


Yet even as I value the power of words, I find myself these days shying away from many of the words I read and hear. On radio and television, in social media, everywhere we turn, it seems that our discourse is full of rancor and hatred, of harshness and criticism.


Whatever happened to good manners? It seems "common courtesy" is no longer common! Whatever happened to respect? Whatever happened to treating other people the way you would want to be treated?


Whatever happened to thinking before we speak? Whatever happened to choosing our words carefully? When did we decide that the words we use just don't matter? What has happened to us as a people?


I have written before about the days when I struggle with these posts. That was true even before my stroke. Some days, words come easily. Some days, not so much. Even on the "not so much" days, perhaps especially on those days, I want to choose my words carefully because words matter. 

Not just written words. All words matter.


Consider, for example, good manners and words of respect. Please. Thank you. Yes, sir. No, ma'am. Manners aren't just for Southerners. And far too often, Southerners don't have them either! How we treat each other matters, and the words we choose are a reflection of that. In our increasingly discordant world, it's important to be respectful, even when we don't agree. Especially when we don't agree. Words matter.


Words can encourage, or they can bring discouragement. It matters which we choose. 

We have, by the words we choose to use, the ability to lift someone up or to tear them down. And this ability carries across the spectrum of life. At home. In politics. In the workplace. In the classroom. At the mall. At the gym. Everywhere we go.


As you're out and about today, doing life, encountering various individuals and situations, choose your words carefully. Be respectful. Because words matter.





"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver."  (Proverbs 25:11 ESV)