Blog 2548 – 10.20.2022
Using The Right Word For Effect
Ever stop and tried to think of find the right word to use? One little letter or sometimes even the emphasis on one syllable over an other can make a big difference in what you are trying to say. I try to make it a rule when choosing my words to pick the kinder more encouraging word.
Like Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven our memory banks are sadly too full of choice words that people in our past delivered to us in anger, hurt, or disappointment. Words like “Nevermore” that still sting after all these many years. Words that we need to forgive and to replace, casting them into the sea of forgetfulness. Carrying so much heavy and unseemly baggage is exhausting and unhealthy.
The Apostle Paul for all his rules and strict observances shared some lessons learned. One that I find particularly useful in dealing with insults and harsh words is: “Forgetting what is past, I press on to a higher calling.”
I recall a TV commercial where a large crowd was gathered to hear a famous concert pianist play but before he made his entrance upon the stage a small boy in the audience with his parents seeing the piano on stage, slipped away from his parents and sat down on the piano bench and began to pick out chop sticks on the keys. The tension in the audience was so thick you could almost cut it with a knife. Harsh and judgmental words were on the tips of many tongues, but the gracious and understanding concert pianist just slip onto the stage and sat next to the little boy and accompanied him, completing the boy’s chosen piece as a wonderful duet as if it was all according to plan. After the first number they both received a standing ovation and after the little boy took his bow he smiled and returned to his seat with his parents for the rest of the concert.
A word of encouragement is always the preferred word and one that can change the entire trajectory of a life. Words have effect and can affect us for good or ill. Chose them wisely and thoughtfully.
You friend and fellow traveler,
David White
When You Say Nothing At All
theencouragingword 