The Power Of Words

Isn’t it amazing how words can make you feel? A genuine compliment, a sincere note, words of encouragement when you’re feeling down, and sometimes even a simple ‘hello’ can make your entire day. Have you ever known someone that just made you feel like you were a million dollars? Maybe it was what they said, or how they said it, but they just made you feel like you mattered to them.

On the flip side, words can be painful and even damaging to others sense of self-worth. Running around the playground as a small child, I am sure most of us will remember the chant: ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.’ Could that saying be more untrue? One response to this familiar adage I found insightful: “Words can leave wounds and scars that linger long after broken bones are healed.”

How can an instrument that sheds forth so much light and love into others’ lives, also be the instrument that degrades, tears down, and injures another? “Some things we say can be destructive, even venomous—and that is a chilling indictment for a Latter-day Saint! The voice that bears profound testimony, utters fervent prayers, and sings the hymns of Zion can be the same voice that berates and criticizes, embarrasses and demeans, inflicts pain and destroys the spirit of oneself and others in the process. ‘Out of the same mouth proceedeth both blessings and cursings,’ James grieves. ‘My brethren, these things ought not to be so.’” (Jeffrey R. Holland, 2007)

Why do we say things that would tear another down? Why do we participate in conversations where someone is criticizing? Why do we want to look for others’ faults? Hopefully the next time we would criticize, we will praise instead. When someone says something negative, we’ll choose to say something positive. Instead of focusing on faults, we’ll look for others’ strengths. “Our words, like our deeds, should be filled with faith and hope and charity, the three great Christian imperatives so desperately needed in the world today. With such words, spoken under the influence of the Spirit, tears can be dried, hearts can be healed, lives can be elevated, hope can return, confidence can prevail.” (Jeffrey R. Holland, 2007)

We would do well to remember the words of Paul: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11) To be a disciple of our Lord, Jesus Christ, we need to be more thoughtful about the conversations we choose to participate in, and more disciplined in the words we allow come from our mouths. There is power in the words we speak, for while “people may forget what you said, they may forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” (Maya Angelou, 1928)

Let us act on our Saviors admonition given in this dispensation: “Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversations, in all your prayers…and in all your doings.” (D&C 108:7)