The POWER of a POSITIVE Word

I glanced over at the customer service desk in the store where I work in time to see Marge wince with pain as she raised an arm to wave at an acquaintance. My friend and former co-worker, she had been forced to quit when unrelenting physical issues made it impossible for her to keep her job. I could hear her relating her latest health woes to the woman who had approached her. In a recent fall she had put her shoulder out, broken some ribs and severely bruised her hip. Even with a cane she could barely get around. Conversation over, she slowly made her way to the pharmacy to fill the latest round of prescriptions.

As she inched her way past me I greeted her and asked how she was doing. Having just heard her long list of physical complaints, I was shocked when she answered with a simple, “I’m good.” Obviously noting the surprise on my face, especially since she could clearly barely walk, she said, “I’m always moaning and groaning about my health issues. I’ve decided to try a different tack. From now on I’m just going to speak out good health in faith.”

“That’s the ticket!” I said in agreement.

“Are you still writing?” she asked. I nodded in the affirmative.

“Have you written about broken ribs? Write me a story about dealing with broken ribs!”

“You don’t need a story! You just spoke the answer yourself!” I called after her as she slowly hobbled off. But I needed a story…or at least a post… for the letter “P”, and suddenly was grateful to her for giving me one on the power of a positive word.

What we speak over ourselves, positively or negatively, absolutely changes the course of our lives. Marge’s positive declaration in the midst of her negative circumstances would be laughable to some, but is commendable to me in that it is the first (albeit hobbling) step on the road to success. Surely the other route hasn’t worked for her, and I’m glad a moment of revelation gave her the inspiration to try something new. I fully expect to see her walking easily through the store once more and shopping off of shelves other than those in the pharmaceutical section soon.

If what we speak over our own lives is important, what we speak into other peoples’ lives is equally as creative or destructive. One of the things I love about the A to Z Challenge is the opportunity to encourage fellow bloggers in their communication attempts. I know how much their comments have meant to me. I deliberately read them just before writing the current day’s post to set the tone for the next few minutes, to discard doubt and bolster boldness in the hope of cracking the door to creativity open a little further. And then I look to do the same for someone else.

When you go out of your way to find something good to say, you change a life in a positive way. There’s simply no better way to spend a day than that.

“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people…”
(Galatians 6:10 NIV)

Something out of NOTHING

“N” is for nothing, and that’s exactly what I’ve got this morning.

The word came to me yesterday and I groaned when I realized it was today’s assignment.

“Nobody can make something out of nothing except God!” I muttered. Suddenly I realized I was given the word because He expects us to do the same… daily…moment by moment, perhaps.

Every morning we wake to a clean slate, and He expects us to fill it somehow, to create in it an existence that is pleasing to Him and in which we find joy and delight, as well. What we make of it is simply up to us.

It’s not that He doesn’t have a plan for our lives, because His Word promises that He does, But the day-to-day details of the accomplishment of that plan lie largely with us and the choices we make in the minutes we’re given. In the writing of this blog post, I’m given an hour. In the working of our life plan we’re given exactly that - one life, short or long, with whatever blessings and difficulties it comes wrapped in.

Surely He doesn’t expect us to accomplish the impossible without some help! And truly we’re given a Book of instructions to read along the way. Early on He tells us how He went about the same assignment: He spoke. He thought about what He wanted to create and simply spoke it into existence.

Can it really be as easy as that? Incredibly, one of the greatest tools He’s given us to work with is that monstrosity in our mouths known as the tongue, the very source of so many or our troubles…simply because we use it in the wrong way. The Bible says that life and death are in the power of the tongue, and what we say absolutely determines what we get. Yet we spew words out without conscious thought…and reap the benefit of the same as a result.

What we speak over our lives and everything in them, from our kids to our finances to our health and our hopes, creates a reality on down the road. How we could change things if we simply thought about what we’d like to have in those areas in the future and spoke it out deliberately and intentionally, instead of letting words fly haphazardly, creating havoc wherever they land.

It’s one thing when what we speak affects our own lives. But when it comes to the people we love who surround us, we need to take extra care that what we say is positive and produces good fruit in their lives. God reminds us in His Word that daily He sets before us life and death, blessings and curses, and to choose life. It doesn’t get any more straightforward than that.

When God created something out of nothing, He looked at what He had made and said it was good. I look at this something-out-of-nothing blog post and sigh. At least I can say it is done!

“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to is voice, and hold fast to him…”
(Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NIV)