#ChooseKindWords

Once again life has served up an important lesson.

Recently, someone told me of an event that took place about six years ago between two people I know very well. And it wasn’t pleasant.

An unkind comment—actually a negative opinion—was given from one person to another. This mean interchange hurt the feelings of a young person I care about.

But I also know the offending critic closely too. My bet is the unruly remark came out without any fore thought. I would hope there was no malice intended, only harsh words escaping out of their mouth. This individual probably is not even aware of hurting the other person. And I also know the offender is a sensitive type of person who should not want to hurt another person due to personal experience.

I’ve been there too.

Once I said an unflattering statement to a dear friend and the look in her eyes let me know I had offended her. I apologized and she forgave me but I could still see pain on her face. I felt absolutely horrible and repented over and over for forgiveness from her and God. This experience taught me to try to control my mouth and not let it run off without my heart and mind engaged in the interaction.

Another time, someone I love very much said a mean-spirited thing to me. I can still recall the sting of their words—like a hundred bumble bees stung my heart. Only time and a lot of self-talk helped to heal the festering wound.

So here’s the point.

We’ve all probably been on both sides of this experience—the offender and the wounded. We’ve wished we could suck those lose words back into our mouth and erase the hearing of them. And we’ve wished we were made of rubber and those mean words just bounced off us out into oblivion. 

The truth is words can really hurt a person’s soul. Finding out about this recent event shows how the pain can linger and still cause dissension in the present.

Now I wish I could wave a magic wand and pull up a list of all those I’ve hurt with my callous words so I can apologize and mend fences. Since that’s not possible, I’m going to really focus on this important lesson.

BE KIND! ALWAYS.

If we practiced this every moment of every day, we wouldn’t have regretful words or hurt feelings. 

How different would our world be? Would there be more peace in our hearts and bounce in our steps? Could our lives have more genuine relationships filled with hope and love?

I don’t know but I’m going to give it a try. Want to join me?