My friend, Maralee McKee the Manners Mentor, recently said, "What a parent says to their child won’t be heard on the news or read in the paper. However, it will echo throughout his life, shaping it and the lives of his family for generations which follow.” She is right, and this is significant power. Words have the power to damage and cause great pain or they have the power to heal and give grace to others.
As I’ve mentioned before, I receive alerts from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children – these alerts break my heart. When I see the photos of children who are runaways, I wonder what kind of words did they hear in their homes? While some of them may be from loving homes and just became influenced by people who did not have their best interests at heart, it is very possible most of them have heard words which echo through their lives with pain. I’ve also watched as my children, grandchildren and the children in the churches where I’ve served “light up” when they are encouraged, applauded and lavished with grace and love!
Consider Colossians 4:6, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (NIV) As you begin your Fall ministries, commit to be a person whose conversation is always full of grace, seasoned with salt so as you serve the children and families in your church and community the “echo” which results in their lives will “shape” them with the grace God so richly lavishes on us!
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