Preposterously Impossible Hypothesis #5: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this particular saying. On the one hand I feel like it should be true, and for some it could be, but I know for many that is just simply not the case. Words hurt. Maybe not in a broken-bone-I-suddenly-need-a-cast kind of way, but words can and sometimes DO cause incredible damage. The quickest way to cut the chord of any relationship is by wielding damaging words in a careless way.

I’m pretty much the king of this. I believe in being honest and direct to the point that it could sometimes be taken as meanness. This isn’t really the case. Of course I deeply care for the people in my life. I try to have a healthy dose of love and respect for others as well, but realize that sometimes in this I fall flat on my face.

Step back and look at our world for a minute. Think about some of the bigger court cases in recent years. So many times the testimony of a key witness can be called into question or refuted based simply on their lifestyle and activities.

Words are powerful weapons—even more powerful are the thoughts, lack-thereof, or faith behind the collective syllables that spill out of our head. Before we can consider our words with kindness shouldn’t we consider our thoughts?

Paul put it this way in his letter to the church at Corinth, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

The Psalmist wrote, “keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.”

There is a lot to be said in the Scriptures about the tongue, its power, and the damage that can be done by words. We have all, at one time or another, been the recipient of words that hurt. We have all, at one time or another, been the perpetrator of words that hurt. We could all use a little more discretion in our speech, care in our language, and love in our vocabulary.