The Words of Your World; Speaking Life into Your Everyday

Do Your Words Love or Hate?

Let’s keep this real; we have every imaginable media outlet and gadget available to speak our minds and the liberty to say a word any time: All the time.

Everyone has an opinion and a potential avenue to let it all out; whether we like it or not.

What the consequences are for engaging this liberty is a totally different discussion I don’t feel like addressing any time soon.

My question today is; how do you use this freedom and prospective access to endless communication outlets? Do you speak and offer words of life to the global community; do we spend time uplifting, encouraging, inspiring and blessing others with words that nourish and call forth positive communication, exchange, learning-something of value?

Are you a lover (in the completely platonic sense) or a hater when it comes to engaging in public discourse of any kind?

Your Heart says it ALL

Jesus says “the good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good; and the evil man out of his treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6: 45). This is powerfully heavy don’t you think? It brings the saying “speaking from the heart” to the highest pinnacle of truth, meaning and grace.

First and foremost: Christ says it plainly, eloquently and impressively: your heart is your home; the wellspring of all that is you; your “I”, your deepest, truest self abides in the heart. To the brim-the full force of your person hood emerges from this origin.

Building on that and keeping it real; if you are really full of it, be it of all the bad stuff that colorful expletives are so apt to express or a person working for a life of integrity and grace, one way or the other you will be exposed; your attitude-words, mindset and proceeding actions will speak volumes of the “abundance” taking root in your heart. Christ likewise supports this in Luke 6:43: “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit.”

What is the Quality of Your Fruit?

So, what do you bring to the table? What is the quality of your fruit? What legacy, impression and imprint do you stamp on the minds and spirit of others?

Are you a by-product of consistently ripe, promising, fresh, nourishing and life giving fruit; is your mouth a vehicle and dispenser of wholesome words– blessings ringing with optimism, courage and positive reinforcement?

On another level, are you an agent of open-mindedness, empathy, fairness and of a discerning character?

In the same vein and building on my last point; part of being fittingly astute is having the honesty and common sense to realize and accept the fact that we can’t always be positive; life is not always a release of colorful balloons, bubbles and immense sunshine; it can stink really bad.

The gift and I would argue laborious objective or aim for us revolves around our response. Are you searching for reserves of courage and faith when the doo doo hits the fan; forcing a laugh or smile out even when it hurts really bad; holding some one’s else’s’ head up when it’s sagging low in despair; warming their hearts with levity, good cheer and words of promise concerning the good you truly believe is coming around the corner?

Exuding this kind of courage is painstakingly complicated and hard; it’s one of the steepest Mount Calvary’s we can mount. But it’s worth it and we all know about and hopefully live for the glory that concluded Calvary; the will of God that supersedes human woe and always permits our triumph.

Everything is Good Even When it’s Not

The cross and Easter Sunday is God’s enduring act and promise that we are always winners in and through him. He fought the good fight and his precious and beloved children have the victory in their hands for the taking.

It’s up to us to maintain a winner’s mindset; one that is primarily and inexcusably entrenched in God’s word.

Oddly enough, well at least to a certain extent, when I think about and search for an example of a person that constantly maintained a winner’s mindset and attitude, my mind automatically turns to one of my old superiors; a non practicing Christian whom I still respect tremendously until this day and keep in contact with.

And if I had to think of one simple occasion that crystallizes John’s gift and propensity for maintaining a positive outlook no matter what, I reflect back to one of the most challenging and busiest days at work we both had to live through.

It was during peak season on a day where there was an abnormally high level of contributing factors leading to near pandemonium in the office: Inclement weather, vehicle breakdowns, communication breakdown between employees and stake holders, high absenteeism on a staff level and many angry customers as a result of the former and latter.

It was brutal.

I remember going into John’s office at my wits end and particularly upset about the no-shows staff wise which, were mostly due to the weather. I was particularly offended and frustrated over their apparent lack of effort, character and regard for others; I had made arrangements to and found the will to face the elements that day; where were everyone else’ priorities especially during the most active time of the year?

John’s reaction was priceless on so many levels. Noticeably red and flustered but applying the upmost tact and restraint, John looked at me straight in the eyes as I sat in the chair in his office, slouching forward in fatigue and despair and said something along the lines of; “Adam, if there is anything you need to learn when it comes to leadership is that everything is okay even when it’s not. If I came in here with your attitude, that would set the tone for the day. Your attitude is contagious and reflective of you. Everyone needs to know that no matter how bad it gets we’re still good. Keep that in mind when you go back out there”.

John’s “fruit” and advice at least for me, is enduring and continuously generative in nature.

Every time I need to face the Goliaths of my life no matter their scope and span time wise, John’s words remind me that our attitudes are the weapons, tools, fortress’ and rocks of salvation; for not only surviving life but thriving within its various contexts: being able to knock down and conquer the beasts of burden and winning big time.

We can either work on planting seeds and reaping the benefits of good fruit or waste time on the weeds and thorns that attempt to impede the growth process.

Jesus says: “every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 7: 19).

Light the world on fire with words of life in the name of God.

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