“A wise man speaks because he has something to say. A fool speaks because he has to say something” – Plato

They’re just words.

So flippant and thoughtless. Rashly voiced and written. Verses stowed in silence. Whispers and inscribed secrets. A voiceless ruler. The vessel of folly and power. Words; the master and servant in one.

Words have power. They can build, restore and motivate… but in the same breath… demolish, divide and dissatisfy. They can induce violent laughter, inspire the profusion of pride and acceptance, yet can equally pierce an abysmal hollow through our being. They can hold no-meaning, and yet bare the weight of the world. Words… the most powerful force available to humanity. 

But they’re just words.

As I hear my Little One innocently reciting words… words disguised in rhythm, I’m finding myself questioning… are these just words?

 “I don’t wanna be alive
I don’t wanna be alive
I just wanna die today
I just wanna die…”

When I witness the grade 2 girls innocently singing and dancing, asserting in voiced chorus word-for-word… I have to question, is there really power in words?

“…don’t be his friend
You know you’re gonna wake up in his bed in the morning
And if you’re under him
You ain’t getting over him”

But they’re just words.

Words; they create, they mould and shape, they spring back to mind unsuspectingly. Words sparked life into being. They stir up hatred and anger. They wound. They heal. They command. They divulge. They diffuse. They dispel.

But they’re just words.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. What a disgusting lie we tell ourselves.

I still have words that haunt me. They appear without warning. They sometimes sit inside my mind, screaming, pushing… demanding an outlet. They remain unsaid. Sometimes the unspoken words are the loudest. Sometimes they are the most important. Maybe we can cause just as much strife with our silence.

Maybe we need to give it words, just as much as we need to give up words.

When words are never just words.

I turned off the radio. I switched off the news. I limited my social media. I surveyed the words coming out of me, and just as importantly, filtered the words I was allowing to come in. And just like that, I could feel a lift.

A shift.

My Little Ones are being shaped and moulded by my words, and the words I allow to infiltrate their world. The challenge is before us. What words of truth are we storing for them? What words will come back to them in the storms? Will it lift them? Will they be words of grace? Songs of encouragement? Verses of strength? Whispers of gratitude?

The power of words. So flippant and thoughtless. Rashly voiced and written. Verses stowed in silence. Whispers and inscribed secrets. A voiceless ruler. The vessel of folly and power. Words; the master and servant in one.

With my breath, I can change my world…

“Let my words be always full of grace and seasoned with salt…”