July 14th, 2021: Kind Words Bring Healing
I am not foreign to how mean and harsh words can damage people emotionally and spiritually. I sat down with a young fellow whose mother died suddenly from a stroke last night week. He was struggling with the conversation he had with her while dealing with her passing. They exchanged some mean words, and he does not know how to deal with that. Unkind words can haunt us for a long time.
Some people believe that they were unwanted because of what their parents or other significant people in their lives told them. Some people do not think that there is anything good about them because someone has told them so. These are lies, and yet they find their ways to corrupt lives for a long time.
What can we learn about having kind words in the Bible?
Proverbs 16:23-24
“From a wise mind comes wise speech; the words of the wise are persuasive. Kind words are like honey — sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”
Hurtful words happen when we speak in haste, anger, and condemnation. We need to have the discipline to keep our tongues tied when we feel such an emotion. It is wise when we do that. A mind with wisdom is a reflective and disciplined one. It considers the well-being of others. We do not just speak because we want to get even and to give back to people. When we do that, we surrender our self-control to others.
Kind words will be able to invite other people to look at life differently. They are not offensive, so others will be open to receive the message. They restore the brokenness of our soul and our emotional damages. When we speak with kind words often, we also feel much healthier because there is no hatred within our hearts. Kind words are good medicine for our troubling world. We do not hear them often in the news.
I read recently about how people feel when we tell them that we appreciate them. We might want to consider that as we talk and engage one another. Everyone has something to enrich our lives if we are open and willing to receive them.
