[This is my very first Blog. I feel that I have worthwhile words to say here. Through my blogging I may also discover whether others of you, in this cyber space, share that opinion with me. I would truly appreciate your input and interaction here, because, of all the things that words are, I believe that their being a bridge between us is surely one of the most important ones. - Deb]
In thinking back over a wide variety of instances throughout my own life, I find it remarkable that a single word used, or left unused yet still greatly affecting the outcome, either at or about those times, has so much power! Power to transform, or tear down. Power to heal or hurt. Power to unite or isolate. POWER.
Words are the foundational currency of our relationships with one another. The words of others have deeply and even permanently affected my life in many ways. I have warmed to a word of kindness. I have withdrawn when a word is abusive. I have embraced when a word is loving. I have winced, as if punched in the gut, when a word was cruel, and I didn't need that. I have wept, while being comforted, by a word that was warm, when I did need that. I, also, have affirmed, encouraged, entertained, pledged, promised, rejected, renounced, sworn, and many other things, which I do to express myself as a human being, by a word.
While it is sometimes emphasized by the tone, or dramatized by the volume, used to convey it, the word itself is still what possesses the true power. Many if not most of our memories center around things like a baby's first word, being asked out on a date, being told we are hired, or fired, a wedding vow, someone telling us they're pregnant, a disagreement, an emergency phone call, the good-bye of a loved one, the condolences of our friends, the preaching of a sermon that speaks right to our heart as if it's for us alone, and so much more. Whether the result of it was positive or negative in my life, some specific word, which was spoken to me at a certain time, has quite often dropped anchor and tethered my soul to that memory; even, and especially, those times when I have wished that weren't so.
The Bible informs us, starting with its very first chapter, of the creative power behind a spoken word. The Scriptures pervasively teach us that a word has real and impacting power, including the power to bless or curse. Matthew 12:37 says "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned". Even Jesus Himself was also called 'The Word'! Simply because it was the most important words that I could ever teach him, I even taught my cockatiel to say "Praise God!" and he said it, then, for almost twenty years.
An unspoken word also holds a lot of power in our lives, whether for good or bad. The silence, from a word not being spoken which is nevertheless present and palpable in the situation, still conveys that word is there, causing it to permeate our psyche as surely as if it had been spoken. Those moments can be filled with such significance and intensity that they have even been called a pregnant pause.
Being a wordsmith is very hard work, and can be extremely difficult to do well. As I begin to grapple with that daunting challenge in this new format, for me, of blogging, I have no idea how I will do with this! In creating and sharing this Blog with you, it is my hope that each of us will come to fully appreciate the remarkable power that a word has, both for us and from us. My prayer is that we are all affected by that truth, and that our words will be used to encourage, inspire, and move others, to a better place in their lives, and not a worse one.
In a word, I'm inviting you to enter in, not just to my life as it has been or to my world as I know it, but to me.
