This past month there were several occasions where I witnessed people being destroyed by another’s words or deceitful actions. I sat and listened to broken hearts and watched tears flow from the pain caused by the hurtful tongues of others.
I sat in silence in my room one night, thinking of the pain that is inflicted so easily by the words of others. The damage from these words may fade over time, but they dangerously have the potential to become part of a person. Words can take root and live inside us if we are not careful. If we do not have Jesus to show us the way. If we do not have His Word to live by.
I hate to admit it, but I myself am guilty of throwing some bad stones at times. I begged God that night in my room to only allow things that bring life out of my mouth. I want to be remembered for only throwing the most beautiful and Holy stones.
Don’t we all?
The whole experience made me think of watching my kids carefully picking up rocks along the edge of the lake during our many summer vacations.
They would take so much time trying to find the right one.
The smooth and flat stones went the distance gliding along the surface and usually ending with a smile. The rough and sharp ones sunk right to the bottom and out of sight. They didn’t have the capacity for success.
So, you see, we are all stone-throwers.
Our words are the stones. Every word we speak has the capacity to bring a smile and contain life or sink to the bottom where there is nothing but darkness and loneliness.
If the words we speak contain this kind of beauty, people treasure them.
If our words contain pain, people toss them aside, but not until after they have had to deal with the pain from the wound they inflicted.
The Bible says our words can be life-giving water. Just like the round flat stones of a river that have had the time and constant source of beauty from the running current, they are very different from other stones. They contain the result of the life-giving water that generously flowed over them.
Let’s all strive to throw stones that people treasure.
Let’s all strive to throw stones that bring life.
Let’s all strive to apologize for ones that we should not have even bothered to pick up in the first place.
Let’s all strive to throw stones that are only holy and beautiful.
Proverbs 11:9 “Evil words destroy one’s friends; wise discernment rescues the godly.”
Proverbs 11:12 “It is foolish to belittle a neighbor; a person with good sense remains silent.”
Proverbs 11:17 “Your own soul is nourished when you are kind, but you destroy yourself when you are cruel.”
Proverbs 15: 1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but hard words stir up anger.”
Proverbs 15:4 “Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.”
Proverbs 16:24 “Kind words are like honey–sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”
Proverbs 18:4 “A person’s words can be life-giving water; words of true wisdom are as refreshing as a bubbling brook.”
Proverbs 18:20 “Words satisfy the soul as food satisfies the stomach; the right words on a person’s lips bring satisfaction.”
Proverbs 20:15 “Wise speech is rarer and more valuable than gold and rubies.”
Proverbs 25:18 “Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow.”
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Holy Beautiful Life
Featured Image by David Ramos on Unsplash
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