In
our house we have 2 - four letter words that are big No-No’s. My word is “fine”.
It can be used to describe something of superior quality like a fine wine or
fine art. It can also mean a penalty for a speeding ticket. Others use this
word to abruptly end an argument. This word to my hubby means good, but to me it
means mediocre, neutral, ambivalent – like I care, why are you bothering me
with this conversation anyway, can we be done with this topic and move on to
anything else but this, a black shoe is a black shoe, or the killer “fine” that
means, - why are we even taking time for this discussion we both know every
dress makes you look fat….
That’s what I hear but that’s not what he was saying.
My
hubby’s four letter word is “what”. For
me it means I’m sorry I didn’t hear the whole sentence clearly, can you repeat
that? Or My brain scrambled that message and I have no idea what you’re saying.
To my hubby it means you don’t care enough to listen, you know I hate to be
ignored and yet you ask me to repeat myself, how dare you, I deserve more
respect than this.
Words
can mean different things to different people. That’s why it is so important to
back up our words with action. It took over a year into our marriage for us to
realize we had this language barrier but during that time we built up actions
that made it easier to believe the opposite of what our minds told us and
remember that the other person loves us and doesn’t mean that word in the
hurtful way we hear it.
We
can’t control how people see us, hear us, or judge us. We can only control our
actions. But we can’t dismiss this lack of control and say, “well that’s their
problem.” Romans 12:9 tells
us, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”
Back
in 2014 I ran across this posting on Facebook and which got me thinking about 4
letter words. 
Even
the phrase “four letter word” instantly evokes thoughts of curse words and
negative reactions but we don’t have to stand on the negative side of life. We
have the power to change the negative to positive. Proverbs 18:21 tells us life
and death are in the tongue. We choose which side to pick from; love/hate, hurt/heal.
But our choices are not restricted to four letter words. Also, we not only
choose with words but with our actions.
Actions that move
situations from negative to positive must first reflect God, and as God is love,
these actions will be based in love. “Whoever claims to love
God yet hates a brother is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother
cannot love God.” 1 John 4:20. Consistent actions and letting
God shine in every word will eventually show our transformation to those people
who have judged motives based on their internal perceptions. While people can
make our lives easy or hard by judging us, the important thing to remember is
God knows the most valuable four letter word, He knows our “hart”.
For
our prayer today let’s memorize this verse and use it this next week: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation
of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14
Click here to take a quiz
and find out what your words and meditations say about you…
Here are my results
FUN FOR THE DAY – TRY THIS RIDDLE
Click here to see the
answer:
No comments:
Post a Comment