Words

I was invited to a birthday party a couple of weeks ago for one of the newest core members in our community. After the table was cleared and the gifts had been opened, we had a time of going around the table sharing words of encouragement with Cam. Tony was the last one to share. It was simple, and it went something like this. “Cam, I have grown to love you as a friend since you came to our house last year. But not only are you my friend, you are my brother. My little brother.” This really touched me. All of a sudden, my many words that I had said, seemed so minuscule in comparison to his. Tony meant every single word that he said, and will never look back wondering if he actually meant those words or not.

In these last couple weeks I have taken a step back, and have started to realize how prone I have been to just talk. We so often want to say the words that we know people want to hear.  But what if our hearts are not fully in our words? Words are to be treated with care. They have the power to build or to tear down. All of our “good” words are as good a crap if we don’t follow through on them and actually mean them.