Below is an article Meaghan read and shared on her blog that I really liked and wanted to share.

What a challenge. The words we use have so much power, let’s learn to use them wisely.

Make it a great day.

Jake

I love words…what writer doesn’t? My father was an English teacher, so honestly, I don’t know that I had much choice!

The Bible says a lot about our speech and the power of our words. Here are just a few things that God tells us:

• "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." (Ephesians 4:29).

• "Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking…" (Ephesians 5:4)

• "For out of the overflow of our heart, the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34)

• "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure…[and] shine like stars in the universe." (Philippians 2:14-15)

• "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." (Proverbs 12:18)

And then there’s the 10 Commandments: don’t lie, don’t use the Lord’s name in vain, and honor your mother and your father—which is often done by measuring our words. Wow…three out of ten commandments deal with our words! They must be a pretty big deal!

Proverbs 18:21 tells us, "The tongue has the power of life and death." With that in mind, I’ve come to understand that there are four types of powerful words our family needs to hear from us.

Powerful Affirming Words: These words give a pat on the back when someone has been successful at something. They encourage…or "inspire courage," when we affirm the God-given talents or character traits someone has. Our husbands and children need to hear more affirming words from us than correcting words or critical words.

Powerful Accepting Words: Accepting words communicate that someone else’s ideas, thoughts, or opinions are valuable. Accepting words and phrases draw people out rather than shutting them down. They include phrases like "That’s a good idea." "Tell me more." Or "I think you’re on to something!"

Powerful Appreciating Words: These words express sincere gratitude for something someone’s done or who someone is. If we’re grateful in our heart, but the words never exit our mouth, the other person doesn’t have the opportunity to hear these life-giving words.

Powerful Apologizing Words: We need to say, "I’m sorry, will you please forgive me?" when we blow it. For some of us those seem to be the hardest words to say. Maybe because we consider such words weak. Or maybe because we never saw apologizing words modeled. Regardless of why those words are sometimes hard, we have to redefine apologizing words as POWERFUL. These words soothe the hurts we cause. They begin a healing process in the heart and they bring life to the relationships closest to our hearts.

Since God’s word tells us that words are so important, I’m working on being careful with my words. I’m also working on watching the tone of my words.

Care to join me?

Joining you in the journey,

Jill Savage