A Big Lie

 

 Did you ever hear this childhood chant? Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. 

How long did it take you to realize it might be fun to say, but in real life, it was a big lie? 

Even short and simple words have power. Sticks and stones may break bones and we’ll recover, but hurtful words can abide inside us forever.

I’ve worked with both children and adults who were timid and using less than half their awesome potential because someone in their past had said, “You’re stupid. You can’t do anything right. Get out of the way. You don’t know what you’re doing!” 

Through their ears, negative words entered their mind and spirit, remaining like a record with lifetime automatic replay. 

Never underestimate the power of your words! It’s not just what you say, but also how you say it. 

“You’re a fat little baby,” can sound harmless when said in a soft cooing way by a smiling mother with loving eyes. But the same words hold a different power when said harshly by a caregiver who is glaring at a little one while handling a diaper change. 

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the mind and healing to the body (Proverbs 16:24, AMP). Words, like bees, have the power to both sting and make honey. 

Honeycombs are six-sided cumulative structures, built and filled cell by cell. From birth we are like honeycombs, holding on to what we hear from people around us. 

As adults, we like to think that words can no longer hurt us. Let’s be honest - - - they do! 

Whether we are on the giving or receiving end, words have staying power. Sometimes we have the first word, sometimes the last. 

The question is, “Will it be a sharp sting or sweet like honey?”