Have you ever had a day wherein you said all the right words…all morning, afternoon, evening?  And you thought you were on a roll?

You know what I am talking about, right?  Those days when you hit the track running, you are that on fire.  Saying all the right things to all the right people.  Using your words to teach, commend, uplift, inspire, encourage, urge and motivate.   Until at some point in that same day, later on as the daily minutes and hours progressed, the wrong words are spoken.  About someone.  To someone.  Against someone.  Hurting someone.

And then.  It becomes painfully clear.  Your words are now poison.  Dangerous.  Deadly.  And suddenly you see that the path on which you’ve been running has invited you to take a turn for the worse.  And you choose that path in spite of what you know to be true.  And in doing so, in making this choice: something slips.   And as it does, words have come tumbling out of your mouth that you wish you could pull back in as soon as they are spoken.

And as a result, all those wonderful words you said earlier seem like bits of colorful confetti.   Pretty at first.  But now annoying.  Useless.   Trash.

Irrelevant.  And all in light of the huge white elephant in the room.  Some petty little words.

That is, your own ill-spoken, long-lasting, hurtful words.  Ouch.  They are sharp and they inflict pain.  Even on the one who speaks them.

Words.  We speak words that breathe life and hope.  But when we choose not to.  When we fail to use our words for lifting one another up, there is a price to be paid.  For the speaker, as well as for the hearer.

And it’s all about pride, isn’t it?  Because as soon as we start to think we are better than we know we really are, these things happen to us.  And they act as reminders.  Because we all need to keep reminding ourselves about our own fragility.  Our frailty.  Our humanity.  And at the same time, we need to encourage ourselves with the thought that maybe in time, we might see that our words are powerless without love.  Without compassion.

And in humility, we can also come to realize that there is always tomorrow.  And tomorrow is just  another word for opportunity.  It is just that.  The opportunity to do things even better than we’ve done them today.

I love the lyrics to this song:  Words, by Hawk Nelson.

“Words”

They’ve made me feel like a prisoner
They’ve made me feel set free
They’ve made me feel like a criminal
Made me feel like a king

They’ve lifted my heart
To places I’d never been
And they’ve dragged me down
Back to where I began

Words can build you up
Words can break you down
Start a fire in your heart or
Put it out

Let my words be life
Let my words be truth
I don’t wanna say a word
Unless it points the world back to You

You can heal the heartache
Speak over the fear
(Speak over the fear)
God, Your voice is the only thing
We need to hear
(We need to hear)

Words can build us up
Words can break us down
Start a fire in our hearts or
Put it out

Let my words be life
Let my words be truth
I don’t wanna say a word
Unless it points the world back to You
(Back to You)

Let the words I say
(Let the words I say)
Be the sound of Your grace
(Sound like Your grace)
I don’t wanna say a word
Unless it points the world back to You

I wanna speak Your love
Not just another noise
Oh, I wanna be Your light
I wanna be Your voice

Let my words be life
Let my words be truth
I don’t wanna say a word
Unless it points the world back to You
(Back to You)

Let the words I say
(Let the words I say)
Be the sound of Your grace
(Sound like Your grace)
I don’t wanna say a word
Unless it points the world back to You
(Back to You)

Words can build us up
Words can break us down
Start a fire in our hearts
Or put it out

I don’t wanna say a word
Unless it points the world back to You