Thursday, January 31, 2013

Small Words Can Do So Much

"It is the same with the tongue.  It is a small part of the body, but it brags about great things.  A big forest fire can be started with only a little flame.  And the tongue is like a fire...The tongue spreads its evil through the whole body." James 3:5-6

I am that woman that cries at the drop of a hat.  It doesn't take much to make me cry.  I cry when I am happy, I cry when I am sad or mad, frustrated or anxious.  I've been like this all my life.  I call my eyes my leaky faucets. 

For the majority of my life, I was ashamed by my crying.  I found it embarrassing and difficult to cope with especially since it makes many other people quite uncomfortable.  I was told as a child that I was "too sensitive".  I needed to have a "stiff upper lip" (still not sure exactly what that means) and "not to take any wooden nickels" (again not sure of the meaning).  But it became clear to me over time, that my crying was seen as a weakness.  It was a fault, something that was wrong with me, something to be ashamed of. 

In the last six months, someone blessed me with a different perspective.  I had gone forward for prayer after church one day and as usual, while I tried to tell the elder what I wanted prayer for, I started crying.  The elder looked me in the eye and said "God gave you a tender heart" and what I heard in my heart was "there is no reason to be ashamed". 

God made me this way for a reason.  I am who He wanted me to be - I have not yet figured out why He gave me a tender heart, but for the first time in my life, I didn't feel like crying was a bad thing. 

God loves me the way that He made me and wearing my emotions on my sleeve is part of who He made me to be. 

I am so grateful for the kind words of that elder - for the perspective that he blessed me with that day - it changed the way I think about myself.

It is truly amazing what words can do.

What kind words can you say to someone today?

In His Grace...

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