Sometimes Silence is Best.

The saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is a misstatement and an untruth. Words are powerful and everlasting. Powerful because they have the ability to excite someone or crush their dreams and everlasting because they get continuous play in the mind of the receiver. So keeping that in mind, it is imperative to be very careful of and take ownership over the words that are formed by our tongues and leave our mouths.

The tongue has the power to speak life, blessings, curses and death into the lives of others. You have the power to speak into existence the thoughts and feelings of your mind and affect the lives of those around you. With Power comes great responsibility. Our tongues are powerful and therefore garner great responsibility. The ol adage "Think before you speak." came into existence because once you say something you cannot take it back no matter how "sorry" you are you said it. Hearers of our words take them at face value and believe what they are hearing unless you are an established liar in which case you couldn't get people to believe you even if your tongue came notarized.

"Choose your words carefully" is another one. The words "I love you" are powerful in themselves. The way in which these words are perceived is significant. Most people just say "I love You" meaning they love you as friends, a great influence in their lives etc. However, between a couple the words "I love you" mean just that. You love me and want to be with me; we are committed to each other. Not I love you like a family member. Sometimes I think people say these words without realizing the impact they have on a person. They say these words with no regard to their meaning or impact. Some folks can just say it with no consequence because they could care less, but to the person hearing those words, it could mean their livelihood.

I had a guy tell me he loved me one time and I in turn told him back. When we spoke, which was several times a day, we continuously told each other we loved the other. We made what I thought was love and he just basically had sex. I felt one way and he another. Afterwards he explained to me that his " I love you's" were merely expressions of his friendship and caring for me, but in no way meant that he was actually "In love" with me. How devastating to hear. My heart broke and my spirit sank at the reality of me letting this man into my inner most being and him saying afterwards,"I didn't love you that way." Are you freaking kidding me? You didn't allow me the opportunity to make an informed decision about this intimate expression of "love".

The world does not revolve around us and we are not in this world alone, therefore our words will be heard by someone, if only God and he has a tendency to act on our words oftentimes giving us what we say we want. Another saying, "Be careful what you wish for, it just might come true," comes to mind. I could go on and on but I won't. I leave you with this, Don't say things you don't truly mean and mean what you say. It could mean life or death to someone else.