One of the most ridiculous childhood axioms of all time has to be: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” I thought the saying was ludicrous every time I was called “four-eyes” for wearing glasses, and I thought it was absurd when the class bully publicly humiliated my friend during recess for wearing hand-me-down clothes.

 
Words can hurt—badly.

 
Everyone has stories like the ones I just mentioned—perhaps you were the victim of hurtful words. Perhaps you were the bully. Like a thermometer measures our body temperature, our words are an indicator of our spiritual condition. Are you infecting those around you with a feverish, cruel tongue? Or, are you spreading healing with kind words?

This week, we are reading about heartfelt communication, so let’s focus our prayer time on this topic.