Your Word

Recently I have learned that someone's word doesn't hold as much power as it once did.  Typically when a person says that they will do something, they actually do it.  I realize that life can catch up with us and seem as if we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off, but that doesn't give us an excuse to forget our word.

People makes promises.  People break promises.  People tell you one thing.  People mean another.  People say one thing to your face.  People say something completely different behind your back.  Words.  They seem to mean nothing these days.  The old saying "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" seems to make more sense now.  When we were younger, words may have hurt us more than they would appear to hurt us today.  Why?  Because the older we get the more we realize that sometimes people don't actually mean what they say.  They don't give any thought to the words that come out of their mouth.

About a year ago, I stumbled across a movie, One Thousand Words, featuring Eddie Murphy.  It was so good I made my mom and dad watch it and write down certain lines that stood out.  My dad and I wrote down the same lines. The movie was so thought provoking.  Eddie Murphy, Jack in the movie, was given a tree filled with leaves but with each word he spoke, a leaf fell.  When the tree no longer had any leaves, his life ended.  At first, he continued to let words slip from his mouth without any thought...but soon as he was beginning to realize his death was quickly approaching...he put more thought into everything that came out of his mouth.  He put deep thought into his words.  Here are a few quotes that stood out from the movie:


It's quite amazing, 
how many thoughtless words one can speak?
Don't you think?

Make peace, show them that you love them, and be truthful. (This reminds me of the saying walk the talk--There are times in life we have to put action behind our words or they are meaningless)

You. Me. We. Eternity (to his wife)

I forgive you (3 of the most powerful words we could ever speak to anyone)


I imagine that most of us would put much more thought behind our words if we "lost life" after they rolled off the tips of our tongues. 

Remember that our word holds power.  Remember to keep your word.  Remember to watch your words.  Remember that words are powerful and sometimes the most powerful words ever spoken...are very few.