Sticks
and Stones
Not
sure where my grandma got all those pithy sayings that sum up life problems in
ten words or less. I remember she had a little pillow in her room that read “a
stitch in time saves nine.” I know she didn’t make them up. Probably handed
down from generations not dictated by social or political correctness.
One
of my favorites is “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never
hurt me.” That has a nice ring to it but it’s not true. As a child coming home from a rough day in school,
grandma would whisper these words in my ear as if praying to the saints.
When
that bully beat me up on the playground (1st grade); when the nun
told me that I was dumb as an ox (3rd grade); when the archbishop
told me that I would be no better than a shoe salesman (in response to my
telling him I was leaving the priesthood); when the church vestry angrily
suggested I find other employment (which I did gladly); and when a best friend
told me that he was no longer my friend, that’s when I found out that words
hurt.
Lest
I leave the impression that I have spent a lifetime being a victim of verbal
assault, I have a laundry list of people I have hurt with my words. Mostly in
anger but occasionally with the intent of bruising another human being with
words that can never be erased. I can testify that the tongue, my tongue, can
be a lethal weapon if left unchecked. I am convicted about my unbridled tongue
every time I read through the book of Proverbs which has a lot to say about
good and bad words.
Here’s an encouraging word from another part
of the Bible: “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be
good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear
them…be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God
through Christ has forgiven you.”
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