How Was Your Day?
Kind Words Are like Honey, Sweet To The Soul
“I believe in you and I love you,” I first heard that from my favorite person in the world, my dad. If there was anything that my dad was good at, it was putting together just the right words for every situation. From knowing what to say when I got a bad grade on a test, how to handle my back talk (with grace and a good bit of discipline), or how to just sit in silence with me while we simply do nothing. In large part to him, I cherish the way words are used and the impact they can make on the people around us.
Throughout my college years, I was terrible at giving grace to others with my words. I was hypercritical, zealous over insignificant ideas, and unable to give the grace that I had been shown by God to the people I considered to be my closest friends. More often than not, my words had the aroma of hate rather than the aroma of Christ. Eventually, this started to become a real issue. The people I considered my friends would tell me that I was just plain mean and that it just felt like a burden to be around me. That hurt. But who else was I to blame? I knew what they were saying, but I thought that as long as I was “right” that it wouldn’t matter how I said the things I believed. I was wrong on every front.
Former President Teddy Roosevelt once wisely said, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care,” and I realized that phrase clearer than ever before. So what did I do? I apologized and took stock of what I had been saying to others and what the state of my heart was. The words that had spilled out of my mouth came forth from the life I had been cultivating day in and day out. The seeds that I had sown in my life produced unhealthy, withering fruit that were on full display for everyone to see. I knew I needed to change. Not just for the people in my life, but for the God of whom I worshipped. I began to look at the life of Christ and saw a common thread in his encounters with “the least of these” in society. He was gentle. In His encounter with the woman at the well, we see how his interaction with her reoriented her everything. Here’s some context so that we can get a fuller picture of what was at hand when these two met.
The story takes place in John 4, and the Samaritan woman is collecting water at the well at daybreak, which was odd since most people would come at or before sunrise to avoid being exposed to the heat for so long. The fact that she was both a woman AND a Samaritan were two reasons that would seemingly be the exact wrong person to talk with because of him being a man and a Jewish one at that. Jesus and His disciples were traveling and He had stopped by a well to rest and reconvene. Shortly after, the disciples went into the city and Jesus had stayed back and the Samaritan woman arrived to retrieve water from the well. God makes no mistakes in placing people exactly where they need to be. Once Jesus and the woman are both at the well, he initiates the conversation by asking her for some water to drink, and she’s baffled because of the stereotypes in their time of Jews and opposite genders speaking with one another and this may have been one of the only times she would have a friendly encounter with a Jewish man.
As the text continues, the scope of Jesus' words pulls her in even more, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. " The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." (John 4:10-15). Christ draws her in by showing her the gifts of God, the character of God, and where the source for satisfaction is found through the use of His words. Who else would dare claim that they can give water that never runs out? God. Who else could claim that their own water they give leaves every person who drinks of it to never thirst again? God. The kindness of God, the promises of God, the majesty of God, and the glory of God is what makes the words of God being spoken the refuge our hearts can find rest and true shalom (peace) in. Not only do we have the perfect example of Christ to model our speech from, but we believers have His very Spirit to rely and depend on.
Whenever I started to attend the church I currently go to, things were different. I had no previous relationships outside of a few people who I had not spoken to in years, so everyone around me was a friend waiting to be made. Earlier this year, my grandmother passed away and one of my friends helped my heart when I needed it most. He knew that she had passed away and came up to me and asked me, “How are you holding up?” I tried so hard to just act okay and be “strong,” but I couldn’t, I broke. Tears were streaming down my face and he started praying for me. Praying for peace from God for me and giving his presence in the moment to minister to me. I will forever cherish this memory near to my heart. Not because of the eloquence of his words, but because of him simply being there and interceding on my behalf.
Friend, I encourage you to go out and be a means of grace to someone today. Whether that be encouraging a disheartened friend, cheering on an excited family member, or simply praying for the people around you. Never forsake the gift of yielding your words for the purpose of pointing people to our eternal hope, Jesus Christ himself.