Be Positive ... speak LIFE !

Imagine that you are stressed, tired, and drained. It’s 5:30 PM and you are on your way home. It has been a busy day and a difficult week. You have been on the phone most of the day working through logistical problems with a recent issue that was completely out of your control, but somebody had to handle and that somebody happened to be you.

When you get home, your spouse has been cooped up with a two year old all day long, new construction down the street cut the cable and telephone lines and your house is disconnected from cyber space. All you want is solitude; all your spouse wants is community. All you get is frustration.

Psychologist tell us that every day a man begins his day with 10,000 words and a woman starts out with 25,000 words. Most men use up their allotment by 2:00 PM; most women, on the other hand, never have a shortage of things to says. So dinner time, there is a long list of questions with corresponding short answers. One spouse feels neglected, the other feels attacked. They both long for sweet community, but their idea of community is vastly different. They long for connection, but end up in conflict. If our conflict is not resolved, over time it intensifies and threatens the bond that holds us together.

Have you ever been in a conversation that focused on a couple splitting up? Of course you have. When you first hear about it, the typical question is: “Is there another person in the equation?” In a recent article published by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, the number one cause of relational breakup is not infidelity, nor is it money. They cite the number one problem in troubled relationships is poor communication

How many times have we heard, “communication is the key,” yet we never invest time or energy in learning new communication skills. We are going to spend the next two weeks in our new series called, WordCount. Hopefully, these talks will help us make our words count.

People tend to underestimate the power of their words. We say things that we do not mean and mean things that we fail to say. The Bible provides insight into the power of communication when it says in Proverbs 18:21.

Proverbs 18:21
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

The Message translates it like this:

Proverbs 18:21
Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit--you choose.

All of us are given over ten thousand words every day, how are we using them. Are we using them to encourage or discourage? Are we speaking life or are we speaking death? It’s time to speak LIFE.