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May 07, 2024 18:00pm

Power of Words

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My baby book says my first word was “hot dog.” I didn’t start with one. I went for a double word. Kinda makes me wonder if I meant it as reference to the food or as a celebratory word. Was it baby speak for, “I want a hot dog” or was I just excited about life and wanted to exclaim, “Hot Dog!” The baby book does not include punctuation, so it really could go either way. I find it interesting that, even from the start, I had an abundance of words. Most babies nail it down to one…dada, mama, no…something short and sweet.

My uncle said he didn’t think my younger brother could talk, until he and his wife took the two of us on a road trip, and I finally fell asleep.

As a child, in the “old days” before internet access, I would spend my free time either reading books or filling notebooks with ideas, poems, stories, or maybe just my name with the last names DiCaprio or Leto or actual last names of non-famous boys occasionally.

I have continued to accrue more notebooks, minus last name trials, even into adulthood. I fill them with all kinds of thoughts and ideas. All of the words.

As teenagers, my brother and I would get into the occasional disagreement. Our dad hated hearing us fuss, so he would insist we stop immediately-right in the middle of our “conversation.” We would move elsewhere after a few minutes and both explain our side of the story until we both felt like the other at least understood where we were coming from. We might not have solved any underlying issues, but we heard each other out with all the words it took to get to closure.

As an adult, I was an elementary education major who chose my core studies to be literature/grammar and social sciences. I have always loved words, and I have always loved studying people-its own version of words-behavior/communication/community.

I taught in public school for 3 years, and then I started staying home with my babies. Applying what I learned in college, I made sure I talked about everything we were doing throughout our days, so that their little brains had new neurons firing to expand their vocabularies and knowledge. I sang songs to teach them how to spell their names, songs to memorize Scripture, songs that were silly, songs to soothe. I read ALL of the books. I read children’s books, but I also read my books aloud, the Bible, signs on the road, articles, whatever I was reading-to expose my kids to new words and expand their little growing minds.

I eventually taught all 3 children from home and taught other kids in co-op, where other homeschool families would bring their children and teach my kids things I am not as gifted at teaching. I was able to use all of my words to watch my children and others learn how to read and write words and expand their vocabularies and encourage neurons to fire in their growing brains.

I recently found myself telling my youngest child that my words weren’t as powerful as he thought they were. Even as I was saying that, I knew it wasn’t true. What I was trying to communicate was different from what came out. I neglected to take time to think through what I really wanted to communicate, and my message came out quite differently than I intended.

I had told my son something like, “I know you’re going to do great on that science test!” to which he responded, “Well, I probably would have if you hadn’t said that!” I wanted to communicate that my believing he would do well and saying so had no power to make him do poorly. But, what I said-”My words aren’t that powerful!” wasn’t really a true statement.

Words are powerful. I do not believe in manifesting-putting the words out in the world in expectation that they will or will not happen, though. I believe God is sovereign, and He is in control of all things. My words will not supercede His will or throw off His plan. They do have power, though.

I recently read through a Christ-Centered Exposition/Commentary of Proverbs. Chapter after chapter, I was reminded that the tongue is powerful, that words can ruin relationships or build people up, that a fool uses words loosely or excessively. I was reminded again and again that I should be slow to speak and quick to listen. I was reminded of the actual power of words as a reflection of my heart and my relationship with Jesus.

As I read all of the warnings to fools, flashbacks flooded my thoughts of times I have spoken without thinking (Proverbs 17:27), times I reacted with words rather than responding thoughtfully (Proverbs 15:1), times I had enjoyed morsels of gossip (Proverbs 18:8), and times words lured my heart away from Biblical truth and toward sin(most of Proverbs).

I was blown away by the notion that I am still struggling to be wise with my words, even after walking with Jesus for 35 years. Thank God for His grace and patience as He sanctifies me and continues to open my eyes to sin in my heart.

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14