{"id":127,"date":"2025-11-14T08:21:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T13:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/applaudingtrees.com\/?p=127"},"modified":"2025-11-14T08:21:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T13:21:18","slug":"the-words-we-speak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/applaudingtrees.com\/?p=127","title":{"rendered":"The Words We Speak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This morning, I was reflecting on something I’ve observed in my relationships. A pattern that I’ve been frustrated about. Many times my wife and sometimes my daughters seem to misinterpret what I say to them about some topic. In many cases, they hears almost the complete opposite. I ask myself, “Did I really just say the opposite of what I was trying to convey?”. As I go back over the words that I’ve said, I am confident<\/em> that I said the right words. So what happened? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently I heard the following saying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I\u2019ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.<\/em>“<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

How can this be true? Aren’t the actual words Jesus’ spoke indispensable? We treasure people’s words all the times from books. We go back and listen to videos of speeches and interviews to replay what<\/em> someone said, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did a cursory Biblical search on this and was immediately struck with, what I would almost say, remorse. A verse I know all too well popped up and made it clear as day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (ESV)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Talk about a proverbial punch in the face. Does my family just hear a noisy gong when I speak to them because I’m lacking in love? Such a wonderful reminder that the foundation of all we do is in love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn’t stop there though. Of course, you can’t get away from Proverbs for some life lesson nugget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” Proverbs 16:24 (ESV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1 (ESV)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Notice how nothing in these verses mentions anything about the actual words being spoken. There are more examples. But I think the point is clear – while we want to speak “truth to our neighbor<\/em>” (Ephesians 4:25), there is something beyond just the words that we speak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do we “have love” like described in 1 Corinthians 13? Of course, the source of love is God. There are plenty of verses related to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cEveryone who loves has been born of God and knows God.\u201d 1 John 4:7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod\u2019s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.\u201d Romans 5:5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fruit of the Spirit is love\u2026\u201d Galatians 5:22<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is such a good reminder for me to seek love first. Abiding in Jesus is so important to loving others (the second greatest commandment, by the way) that we just simply cannot love without him. So why would we want to speak truth of any kind, if we aren’t expressing love? Maybe I need to focus on understanding how to love my family without words before being a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning, I was reflecting on something I’ve observed in my relationships. A pattern that I’ve been frustrated about. Many times my wife and sometimes my daughters seem to misinterpret what I say to them about some topic. In many … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/applaudingtrees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/applaudingtrees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/applaudingtrees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applaudingtrees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applaudingtrees.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/applaudingtrees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128,"href":"https:\/\/applaudingtrees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions\/128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/applaudingtrees.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applaudingtrees.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applaudingtrees.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}