Transcript:

If someone offered me $1 million to go back and relive my junior high years, I could absolutely tell them NO in one second flat. I don't even need to think about it.

Eighth grade was brutal. I was a highly sensitive kid. I mean it makes you very popular obviously.

And so there was the bully, you know, the one who singles you out and makes it their mission in life to make you feel terrible about yourself.

And so this one guy, I mean, he was awesome, right? And he came up with this nickname for me, and it was an acronym. Of course he made up his own little words that went with it.

And it just so happened that the acronym he used was an acronym used for something else. And so people around school would wear hats with this on them, or they would wear shirts with this on.

And every time he would see me and somebody would be wearing a hat, he would point it out and, get a good laugh at my expense.

To be honest, a little part of me died, every time he did that.

It was there that I realized that words are powerful.

And as we looked at yesterday, God speaks to the power of our words in proverbs 10:11,

Okay. As we are reading this Scripture, I want you to envision it. I want you to create a picture in your mind.

I want you to look at the difference between a life giving fountain versus violent intentions.

So whenever I think about that life giving fountain, I think about, you know, whenever you go somewhere and they have the beautiful fountains and it just sprays the most beautiful water and it's so happy and it brings so much joy, and then you contrast that too violence.

I imagine like a street brawl where people are just punching each other and, you just see pain.

And so let's keep that image in our mind as we're going through this.

Whenever God talks about the difference in the power of our words, when you really think about it, words are a window into our own hearts, right?

So whatever's coming out of our mouth is really evidenced by what's going on in our hearts.

Looking back at my awesome junior high years, I have to believe that the guy that was being so brutal to me was obviously having his own hard time, and I just was the lucky recipient of what was in his heart.

As we go through our days, I think it becomes so important to think about what we're putting into our minds, to think about the feelings that we're having, and then deal with those so it doesn't just spew out and become these violent words that kill.

It's an awesome responsibility when you realize that your words can have such an incredible impact on someone. They can lift up or they can kill.

It's pretty as a pretty big responsibility.

Your Charge For Today:

As you go through your day today, take a minute to really picture your own words. Are they a fountain or are they punches inflicting pain?

In case no one has told you today, I think you're amazing. God loves you right now where you are, and your life matters and has purpose. I love you! Now, go be great.

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