Finding The Secret

More Than Conquerors
January 2004 Part 2

Choosing Your Words

“A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” – Proverbs 25:11

“Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
- Proverbs 12:18

“For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” - Matthew 12:34b

“An anxious heart weights a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.”
-Proverbs 12:25

“Words are also actions, and actions are a kind of words.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
- Mother Teresa

It’s usually pretty easy to speak words to another person. Just open your mouth, and there they are! Do you remember the old saying? “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” Children sometimes would reply with this saying when they were being picked on or teased. But have you realized how untrue the words are? The words we speak do matter! The words we say, no matter how much or how little we mean them, do matter. And all words, good or bad, can have a dramatic impact on our lives.

When we speak recklessly, our words pierce like a sword. Think of that! How does a sword pierce? Swiftly and painfully, leaving devastating scars. When we speak words unkindly to any person, whether man, woman, teenager or child, we can rip the hope right out of their heart and leave them in heaps of anguish and misery. Many hearts and souls have been battered and spirits wounded by words hurled in anger, bitterness or spoken in a demeaning manner.

On the contrary, when we speak a kind word to another it cheers them (and us) up! Caring, encouraging words bring healing and ‘soothing water’ to the dry, parched or thirsting heart.

We must choose our words wisely, “for out of the heart the mouth speaks,” (Matthew 12:34b). The way we use our words, whether to build another up or tear him down, is one of the most revealing parts of ourselves. We can’t ever take back the words we say- they forever leave ‘footprints’ on the hearts of the ones around us.

For by our words we will be justified, and by our words we will be condemned (Matthew 12:37).

Every idle word we speak we will have to give account for in the Day of Judgment. (Matthew 12:36).

Think of that! Every joke, every muttering under our breath, every word we speak we will have to answer for! That’s a sobering thought for me. Is it for you?

I encourage you (as I do myself) to choose your words with care – to lace your words with understanding, patience and wisdom, so that we let the word of Christ dwell in us as we fellowship and teach one another.

—Terra Mandrell

Our Words Leave Footprints

As I walk in the fresh and new fallen snow
I leave my footprints wherever I go.

I laugh with joy when I see the footprints I make
Crisp and clear...and yet so easy to break.

This reminds me of another thing, too.
Something important, for me and for you.

Footprints, like words, are easy to make.
Words, like footprints, easy to break.

We can never take back the words that we say—
Same as the footprints we leave on our way.

So take care as you travel though life
Leave footprints free of anger, malice and strife.

Because just as we walk through the new fallen snow,
Our words leave footprints wherever we go.

—Terra Mandrell
© Terra Mandrell. Used with permission.

Words

There are words in life to inspire us,
Words that bring comfort and care;
Encouraging words to a friend
When they’re in the depth of despair.

There are words between two lovers
Declaring their love for each other;
But sometimes we speak harsh words
Inflicting pain on another.

Words that are chosen wisely
Which we speak in a gentle tone,
Are those that come from our heart
And with them true kindness is shown.

Broken Eggs

Once an egg is broken,
You can never put it back.
Some pieces may be missing
and will forever have a crack.

Like these eggs are unkind words.
In cruelty, they’re spoken
And, like a delicate little egg,
The surface is cracked and broken.

Feelings should be handled with care,
Used in recipes of love.
If it calls for two medium eggs,
May they come from Heaven, above.

Never crack a delicate shell
With unkind words spoken.
Like Humpty Dumpty on his wall,
Those eggs should never be broken.

© 2003 by Claytia Doran
Used with permission

All I Care to Hear

Many words ripple round my shoulders,
Through my hair—across my face—
Sometimes I wonder if I’ll be able
To hear what it is You have to say—

For my sensitive ears are weak from laughter—
And they tingle with this planet’s scream—
I pray for just a moment’s silence,
As I try to hear what You’re whispering—

Father, don’t let them drown out Your voice—
For it’s really all I care to hear—
Your Words are life—Your Words are breathing—
I cup to You my spirit’s ear—

—Joanna Spencer
© Joanna J. Spencer. Used with permission.

Our Words

Our words may stab
Like piercing swords
The ones spoken to; their
Mind, their heart records.

The words we say
To our friends
On this day

Will be recorded
On their souls.
Will they pierce painfully?
Or kindly patch the holes?

Unkind words
To any person-
Friend or foe
Or family or kin-

Can rip the hope
From their very being,
Leaving them in anguish and misery,
Their hearts suddenly unseeing.

But words spoken with
Kind and tender care
Will patch the holes and
Hurts that might be there.

Caring, encouraging words
Bring healing and soothing
Water to the dry, parched heart
And make it once again strongly feeling.

Please remember we can’t ever
Take back the words we say-
Once they’re spoken, there’s nothing
You can do to take the pain away.

So choose your
Words with care -
Before you speak, send
Up a quick little prayer:

“Lord, please guide the
Words I’m about to say,
Salt them with grace, pepper
Them with wisdom, Lord, I pray!”

For our words may
Stab like piercing swords
The ones spoken to; their
Mind, their heart records.

The words we say
To our friends
On this day

Will forever be
Recorded on their souls.
Will they pierce painfully?
Or kindly patch the holes?

Pencils

The hard shell
Serves as protection,
Leaving the inner truth
Almost free from detection—

But at one point
Where your life meets
With the wide world,
To fill the empty sheets—

Your life marks
Every heart it contacts,
Revealing the inner truth
By the way you act—

A living poem
Penned by things you do and say,
Wings to carry others high
Or a stumbling block in the way—

So take the truth
And change the world today,
Make it a better place
With the marks that you display—

—Benjamin Graber

The Words

I explore the universe
With hands and a trembling mind—
I search the earth to find the words
I know I’ll never find—
But if I could touch a stone,
Or make a boulder cry—
My soul at last would know itself—
So I know that I must try—

Were I a skilful painter,
My pencil, not my pen,
Should try to teach thee hope and fear,
And who would blame me then?—
Fear of the tide of darkness
That floweth fast behind,
And hope to make thee journey on
In the journey of the mind.

Were I a skillful painter,
What should I paint for thee?—
A tiny spring-bud peeping out
From a withered wintry tree;
The warm blue sky of summer
O’er jagged ice and snow,
And water hurrying gladsome out
From a cavern down below;

The dim light of a beacon
Upon a stormy sea,
Where a lonely ship to windward beats
For life and liberty;
A watery sun-ray gleaming
Athwart a sullen cloud
And fallen on some grassy flower
The rain had earthward bowed;

Morn peeping o’er a mountain,
In ambush for the dark,
And a traveler in the vale below
Rejoicing like a lark;
A taper nearly vanished
Amid the dawning gray,
And a maiden lifting up her head,
And lo, the coming day!

I am no skilful painter
Let who will blame me than
That I would teach thee hope and fear
With my plain-talking pen!—
Fear of the tide of darkness
That floweth fast behind,
And hope to make thee journey on
In the journey of the mind.

—George MacDonald

Naught to Do But Stand
Dedicated to the Spencer family, whose wife and mother passed away on Dec. 25, 2003.
May the Good Shepherd comfort you in your sorrow.

The deep unfolds her jaws,
My welfare she demands—
There’s nowhere I can go
I but accept the flow,
Surrender to her claws—
There’s naught to do but stand!

Don’t give up in defeat,
Just stand and take the heat!

She wants to push me back,
To drive me to the sand!
But I’ve accepted her embrace,
I’ve found that at this place
With God there is no lack,
There’s naught to do but stand!

You know there’s no retreat—
Just stand and take the heat!

So crush me, sweeping waves!
Your height is not that grand!
Since God is in control
You’re strengthening my soul!
I’m learning to be brave—
There’s naught to do but stand!

Since God cannot be beat
Just stand and take the heat!

These trials that you send
They’re part of all God planned!
And every painful surge
Impurities they purge—
From now until the end
There’s naught to do but stand!

For victory complete
Just stand and take the heat!

—Benjamin Graber

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or
nakedness or danger or sword?… No, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
—Romans 8:35, 37

If you have any comments or questions, or if you have a poem to share, please send an e-mail to bgraber@neo.rr.com

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