“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21 NKJV)

I can’t believe it; this summer is flying by. At the beginning of summer, I set  several goals for myself and I have yet to complete them. For the next couple of months, I have decided to take the time to accomplish them. In order to focus, I will be sharing a few throwback blogs from 2016 with you. I was recently reminded of these blog posts when I gifted this amazing little book titled, “The Four Agreements,” to my cousin in honor of her high school graduation.

In this book, Don Miguel Ruiz states that our agreements communicate who we are, what we feel, what we believe, and how to behave. He offers the following four powerful agreements that will enhance and transform our lives:

1. Be Impeccable with Your Word
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
3. Don’t Make Assumptions
4. Always Do Your Best

Today, we will focus on the first agreement—Be Impeccable with Your Word.  So what does being impeccable with your word actually mean?  Ruiz defines it as: 

• Speaking with integrity.
• Saying what you mean.
• Avoiding using the work to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.
• Using the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

A few years ago, I experienced a situation where a woman wronged me and that is putting it mildly.  Afterwards, I was in a conversation with someone who knew this woman very well and the woman was mentioned in our conversation. I remembered a sermon where my pastor talked about the 15-second window–the amount of time you have to make a good or bad decision. I had to make a decision whether to leave this woman’s reputation intact or tear her down describing detail for detail of what she had done to me.  I believed I had long moved past the situation and said that I had forgiven her. If I chose to tear her down, had I really forgiven her?  Well, I am proud to say that I didn’t say anything when the person mentioned this woman to me.  I chose to leave her reputation intact and I felt very good about myself for doing so.  I believe that was God testing me.  He wanted to know if I had truly forgiven her.  Now, I can honestly say that I have.  Matthew 12:36-37 NKJV states, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgement. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Ruiz articulates, “But like a sword with two edges, your word can create the most beautiful dream, or your word can destroy everything around you.  One edge is the misuse of the word, which creates a living hell.  The other is the impeccability of the word, which will only create beauty, love, and heaven on earth.”

Let me leave you with this.  An old proverb relates the story of a person who repeated gossip; it was a rumor about a neighbor. Soon, the whole community had heard the rumor. Later, the person who spread the gossip learned that the rumor was untrue.  The person was very remorseful and went to consult with an elder in the community who had a reputation for great wisdom to seek his advice. The elder told the person, “Go to your home and take a feather pillow outside.  Tear the pillow open and scatter its feathers, then return to me tomorrow.”  The person did exactly as the elder had instructed.  The next day, the person returned to the elder.  The elder said, “Now, go and collect the feathers you scattered yesterday and bring them back to me.”  The person went home and searched for the feathers, but the wind had carried them all away.  The person returned to the elder and said, “I couldn’t find any of the feathers I scattered yesterday.”  “You see, said the elder, “it’s easy to scatter the feathers but impossible to get them back.”  So it is with gossip; it doesn’t take much to spread hurtful, hateful words, but once you do, you can never completely undo the damage.  “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29 NKJV)

I have read countless verbal attacks on social media and it is, to say the least, disheartening. We all may not agree with each other, but there is no cause for the hatred that is being spewed onto the social media platforms. We can all agree to disagree in a manner that is respectful without personal attack. As Ruiz stated, let’s use the power of our words in the direction of truth and love.

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