words can hurt – Almost An Author

When Words Mean Life or Death

“The king’s scribes were called… and it was written… to every province according to its script, and to every people according to their language…”
Esther 8:9 (NAS)

By the word of King Ahasuerus, Mordecai and Esther commissioned a letter giving Jews the right to defend themselves against attack.

By the word of the king, Haman was carried out from a banquet to hang on the gallows.

Your word probably doesn’t carry the same menace as those in the book of Esther, or, does it? Every day we have opportunity to speak into lives around us. The way we speak will carry life or murder for the hearers. Murder? Isn’t that a little harsh? I may not utter murderous threats like Haman declared against Mordecai, but my words can cut down someone’s esteem or reputation.

Queen Esther was so aware of the power of words, she asked Mordecai to fast and pray for three days. (Esther 4:16)

I believe every writer is called to use their words to inspire, motivate, and encourage people near and far, for such a time as this. (Esther 4:14)

Exercise:

1. Look at your text messages for the last 36 hours. How can you inspire, motivate, or encourage in your texts?

2. Look at your social media posts from the last week. What can you do to inspire, motivate, or encourage through your posts?

3. Look at your email archives for the past month. How can you send out letters that inspire, motivate, or encourage your recipients?

In uncertain times, people need inspiration, motivation, and encouragement. (Isaiah 40)

Articulate God’s Word responsibly; it’s a matter of life and death!

“Thanks be to God who leads us, wherever we are, on his own triumphant way and makes our knowledge of him spread throughout the world like a lovely perfume! We Christians have the unmistakeable ‘scent’ of Christ, discernible alike to those who are being saved and to those who are heading for death. To the latter it seems like the very smell of doom, to the former it has the fresh fragrance of life itself.

“Who could think himself adequate for a responsibility like this? Only the man who refuses to join that large class which trafficks in the Word of God—the man who speaks, as we do, in the name of God, under the eyes of God, as Christ’s chosen minister.”
2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (PHILLIPS)

Over 140 of Sally Ferguson’s devotionals have been published in Pathways to God (Warner Press). She’s also written for Light From The Word, Chautauqua Mirror, Just Between Us, Adult Span Curriculum, Thriving Family, Upgrade with Dawn and ezinearticles.com. Prose Contest Winner at 2017 Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference.

Sally loves organizing retreats and seeing relationships blossom in time away from the daily routine. Her ebook, How to Plan a Women’s Retreat is available on Amazon.

Sally Ferguson lives in the beautiful countryside of Jamestown, NY with her husband and her dad.

Visit Sally’s blog at www.sallyferguson.net

Sticks and Stones and Words Can Hurt

In anticipation of the upcoming presidential election cycle, prepare to hear some unsavory comments, even name-calling among candidates. Here’s a term you may not be familiar with and might hope you’re never called: lickspittle.

Lickspittle is a compound word, combining two Old English words—lick and spittle—neither particularly attractive activities. Spittle brings to mind the mixture of saliva and tobacco that cowboys are prone to hack up into (you guessed it) a spittoon. Both meanings are familiar: lick—to run the tongue over and spittle—a derivation of spit. But combine the two and you have one of many variations of a derogatory term for someone who flatters those in authority. In elementary school we knew them as a brownnosers or apple polishers. Some politicians might choose a less euphemistic term like: suckup, or sycophant, toady, lackey, or now that you know what it means—a lickspittle. The Free Dictionary calls a lickspittle a flattering or servile person. Servile—of or befitting a slave—captures the idea of someone bowing and scraping to the master. Subordinates who feel the need to flatter their superiors are in a form of bondage just as much as slaves are.

If, like me, you enjoy learning new words and how they become part of our vernacular, perhaps I’ve done you a service in introducing lickspittle to your vocabulary. On the other hand, [bctt tweet=”Christian maturity demands that we also know how and when (or whether) to use a word. #editing #writers”] As writers and editors concerned with communicating God’s truth with grace and love, lickspittle is probably not a word that should be rolling off our tongues. Words do have the power to hurt or heal, tear down or build up. Rather than identifying someone as a lickspittle, we ought to recognize the limits of their situation and lift them up instead of belittling them.

[bctt tweet=”Don’t be a “lickspittle”. #writer #amediting #editor” via=”no”]