WORDS

This is Part 2 of "Life of the Beloved".

So now we know that we are God’s chosen people. What’s next?

We go to Nouwen’s second main point: BLESSED.

What does it mean to bless someone? People usually associate blessings with the material things one receives. But then, Nouwen pointed out that blessings are not always tangible. Words can become blessings.

When someone gives us compliments, doesn’t it feel good? When someone, tells you you’re cool, isn’t it awesome? Saying “Thank you.” to these people doesn’t mean we are being proud or lofty. These are blessings in form of words. There are people who like speaking good things to others as a way of blessing them. But are we still being humble if we take people’s compliments? Yes, if we give credit to whom the credit is due – and that is to God. We thank the people for the appreciation but we thank God even more. Accepting the good things people say about us is not arrogance. And if we give God credit and recognize that without Him we could have done nothing then, it is humility.

As people, we need to hear words of blessings. These become encouragement to us. Isn’t it awesome to know that through what we do or say we are able to create positive impact on people – we are able to bless other people? And so it is not just about us receiving the good words, we must also speak good things about others. These words help in building our character. And helps us become more comfortable about who we are and what we do. So we must not only become recipient of the good words, we must also become channels of blessings.

On the contrary, our words can also destroy a person. Are we bad mouthing others? Do we spread rumors about other people? Our tongue is a small part of our body yet it is powerful.

“They sharpen their TONGUE like SWORDS and aim their WORDS like DEADLY ARROWS.” – Psalm 64:3

The words we say are powerful. They can bless or destroy someone. Watch out for the words we speak. We must be careful. We must never forget to use the words to bless others. Never forget to speak good things about others. The world is already full of judgmental people. Let’s learn to appreciate the good things in each of us and express it through our words. 

So let us always remind one another that we are God's chosen people.... that He loves us dearly and we are special to Him.