Speak Life

"Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children".
-- Charles R. Swindoll



I have learned in life there are people who make messes and people who have to clean them up.  While we may not get to choose who we are....we can choose who we are not!



I have been thinking a lot about Words.  We have all experienced their power on one level or another.   Tell someone you love them or tell a woman she looks beautiful and you see it.  A smile, a confidence that arrives.  Tell a child they did a good job on a project and watch them beam.  Tell someone you are proud of them and watch them walk away with head held a little higher.  Thank You!  Your Awesome!  Your smart!  Words are amazingly powerful.  They encourage, they inspire, they build confidence and increase ones ability to succeed!  I think we would all agree that this is true.

However, the opposite is also true there is power in negative Words. Negative words cut, rip and tear at the very heart of a person.  They tear down confidence, lower self esteem and kill dreams inside a person. You are a Loser!  An idiot!  I hate you!  Your ugly!  Your stupid!  You'll never make it! You don't do anything right!  These words speak death!  They kill the heart of a person slowly and over time they leave the framework of a battered, fragile, broken person.  Verbal abuse is very often passed on from one generation to another.  It becomes a learned behavior....almost a coping mechanism.  But there is Hope!!  The cycle we can be broken!!!



"Affirming words from moms and dads are like light switches. Speak a word of affirmation at the right moment in a child's life and it's like lighting up a whole roomful of possibilities."
-- Gary Smalley


If we want our children to succeed than we need to give them the tools.  Tools of confidence, self esteem, love!  Love doesn't want to shred and rip and tear....Love wants to uphold and preserve and protect.  Love is selfless!  The love of a mother sees beyond her own exhaustion, her own frailty and will do anything she can to nurture and protect!  Generally, as parents we have the greatest opportunities to communicate this to our children.  To speak words of Life over them.  What we say has a huge impact on them.  Huge!


So, the challenge is this.  Let's make every effort to ask God for His strength and wisdom.  Lets Guard our lips.  Lets choose to speak Life.  If we feel we have no good words in a situation then let's choose to hold our tongue until we have clear direction.  Lets choose to build up.  Choose to speak Life over our Children.  Then let's sit back and watch the fruit!!


 Ecclesiastes 10:12
The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.

Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

Proverbs 15:1
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.