So many words. So much power.

“She’s probably the loudest teacher I’ve ever met. She uses so many words. And she never stands still. We all think she’s crazy. Her name’s Mrs. Sain. You’ll see when you meet her. Don’t put your head down on your desk, though, she loses her mind when you do that. ” The boy laughed and looked up at his mom. He had no idea that the loudest teacher he had ever met was standing right behind him. Or that her 23- year- old heart was breaking a little.

I think awesome and cool were the words I was chasing back then. I’d have probably even taken funny. But loud and crazy? Not so much. My brain longed to fire off a comeback. But there are 30 of you and 27 of you are boys and you’re in 8th grade and you don’t care about anything least of all the semi-colon and the poems in the literature book. And my job is to make you see how this all matters; to prepare you for life and to keep you awake for 55 minutes every single day. And I care. I care so much.

I slipped around the corner so he wouldn’t see the tears that formed hot and heavy behind my eyes. I did care so much. But maybe what I cared about wasn’t exactly what I thought it was.

And all these years later, age and experience, boy raising and committee leading have changed many things about me. Sorta. Call me on the carpet for being too loud or saying the wrong thing and I’ll still feel those tears rise in my throat. Point out that I did something incorrectly in a place where I love and care deeply about the people and I’ll still fight that old urge to explain myself. I’ll pick up the words that you place between us, even if you don’t intend for me to, and I’ll carry them around in my heart and my head. Because, yes. I still care too much.

And maybe this isn’t just me? Maybe this is a universal truth for all of us.

Israel’s King Solomon, known for his wisdom, wrote a lot about words in his book of Proverbs “Words satisfy the soul as food satisfies the stomach; the right words on a person’s lips bring satisfaction” (Proverbs 18:20). And “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver” (Proverbs 25:11).

Words have power. The ones we say and the ones we hear. And I know this. But I am quick to forget it. I forget how they stick; how the words people use can become the dialogue that runs untethered in my head. And I forget that my words matter to others in that way too.

Because here’s the thing. It isn’t that we should never offer correction or have hard discussions. We all benefit from seeing ourselves through the eyes of wiser people who are further down the road than we are. Blind spots stay hidden unless someone helps us to see. But we are fragile beings. Hearts and souls bandaged and bruised; potholed and patched over; held together with cords of thinly veiled smiles and whispered prayers.

Every. One. Of. Us. Even the most confident and successful person you know can crumble under the weight of misguided words and quietly find ways to hide it. And the fruit of the Spirit that matters the most when it comes to our words might be the one we think about the least. Gentleness. It is a strange thought. Laying words down with gentleness might actually give them more power.

Author and pastor, Eugene Peterson points out this word power in his book Eat This Book, “God creates the cosmos with words; he creates us with words; he calls to us; speaks to us; whispers to us using words. Then he gives us, human creatures, the gift of language” (103).

So the question becomes this: what will we do with it?

The gift of language is a beautiful and dangerous thing. Yet, I often toss it around unaware of its potential. Until I am weary and weak and I hear it whispered over me.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt.” The Word of the Lord. The Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word that brings life and light into any place it touches. The Word that can find its way into my souls and change everything.

So, what is it you need to hear today? What promise do you need to be reminded of? What truth have you forgotten or what goodness are you struggling to see in yourself?

Maybe it works best like this: Go find it in someone else and tell them. Go remind someone that God loves them, that he sees them, and is with them. Go tell someone what good thing you see God growing in them; point out the sacred and the holy. Build up the people around you, help steady their feet when you see them slipping. Pass on words that sink in deep and fill in holes. And then watch how God brings it back and uses it to heal you.

Because it is true. Our. Words. Matter.

And? You just never know who might be walking right behind you.

And now may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord my strength and my Redeemer.