Wow!
Big Red Words...on this page appearing again!
I've been called a "wordsmith"...among other things. I have asked the professionals if I should take on any of those other labels? You know, OCD, Multiple Personality (now called Disassociative Personality Disorder), Bi-Polar, Chronic Depressive State, General Anxiety Disorder, Acute Anxiety, Narcisism, low self-esteem, Drama Queen (I am partial to this one!), ego-centric, eccentric, paranoid, schizophrenic and the buzz word of the mental health industry:
Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome!
I KNOW I qualify for that one!
Never mind the labels...we all got 'em! Or ought to have 'em!! Once I peeked into the file folder which was accidentally left on the bedside table in the emergency room cubicle where I had landed due to a panic attack! The doctor had written "hystrionic personality"!!! (not sure how you spell it...but I know how it feels!) Tell you what!!! If he (the doctor) had lived through what I had...he'd find those 2 words in his own medical chart!
Mom used to work for the Iowa State Historical Society...but I loved calling it the "Hysterical Society" based on our family history!! (sorry, Mom! but we were not strangers to anxiety!)
WORDS are POWERFUL! In the Book of James in the Bible "it is written" that WORDS contain the power of LIFE AND DEATH! It instructs us to CHOOSE LIFE!
How often do we choose empowering words instead of words that maim and kill...the spirit (our own or someone elses)?
A simple smile can really make somebody's day! Just this week my friend experienced several situations where words have shocked her, cut her down, and definitely didn't "make her day!" Sometimes people may think their words are a JOKE...but it's a cruel joke where you are the "Butt" of the joke ...leaving you reeling from the "knife in your gut or your heart!"
How about a so-called "care-giver" who insults you for the "medical predicament" you are in? That category triggers memories of so many stories and examples that I have to leave that for another writing!
Drivers on the road sit in a powerful position of either positive or negative communication. They can choose to smile and wave to another driver as a signal to "go ahead...I'm letting you come out of that driveway"...or "wave the other driver an OK to change lanes"...OR...you can choose to give another driver the middle finger signal...that says...well, you know!
I have been guilty of "road rage" !!! One time in a traffic tie-up at a construction site...I jumped out of the van my husband was driving...(we were both in our clown suits after a gig) and with my take-out burger in hand...looking like Ronald McDonald's cousin...I ran up to the driver's window of the car behind us (he'd been honking and ranting at Gerry to move out of his way) and I yelled: "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?" Later, when I came to my senses...after running back between our van and the angry old guy's car...that he could have smashed my legs or even killed me!! The two face painters riding with us were so shocked at my behavior that they couldn't finish their fast food meals. They were my co-workers at a radio station...and they had never seen that side of sweet little "Christy Clown"! I hadn't either, for that matter! It took only seconds for my temper and MY WORDS to go from zero to 500 in a second! The old guy in the car didn't realize that this "happy clown" had just spent 3 hours dealing with pesky parents at a school carnival and I had just enough adrenaline remaining in my system to hop out and let him have it!!!! It was like a scene from a movie and I'll bet his terrified wife (who sat frozen while I screamed at her husband) still reminds him of their "close call" with that scary clown!
My pastor's wife and choir director found herself in a similar situation one time...minus the cheeseburger! She was seen and heard spewing some ungodly phrases at a driver while sitting at a stoplight. She hadn't noticed the member of our congregation who had pulled up to the light in the lane right beside her and witnessed her surprising behavior! At our next choir rehearsal our dear director began with a prayer and gave her "confession"! Even through her black skin...she appeared to be blushing as she reminded us of how we are to be "witnesses" for Jesus...because we might "be" the only Jesus some people ever see!
To this day...I am capable of losing it and hear myself revert back to my old favorite four letter words...(my family never swore...but in show biz the WORDS you get used to hearing and even sharing behind the scenes are nothing to be proud of)
Like my choir director, I quickly catch myself and ask the Lord to forgive me..."Oh, Lord, there I go again...not sounding like a godly woman"! It reminds me how PETER cursed and claimed he didn't have a clue who Jesus was...the night the Roman soldiers arrested the ONE who came to save us.
WORDS are GIFTS...but they can be CURSES as in swearing...or CURSES against others or even ourselves.
I've read books (full of WORDS) about how our bodies and minds believe "everything we say". Symptoms may appear as a result of the suggestion as we hear about someone's illness. Fear jumps on us like an attacking bear when certain words are spoken or thoughts enter our minds. Jesus said: "as a man thinketh in his heart...so shall he be"! We THINK with WORDS!
If a Wordsmith New it was Right...there is no end to the Words he or she might Write!
(so I write this blog and avoid putting the WORDS down to tell my story once and for all...speaking it is SO much easier...because the WORDS are released into the Universe without being captured forever on a page) I've been asked over and over again ...WHY I want to write the stories of my surviving child abuse and a life of struggles to become a VICTOR and not remain a VICTIM.... the stories of of making lemonade out of the lemons...and my answer is always: "Every time I tell the story (stories) I am celebrating once again...that I didn't end up in a mental institution for life, become a prostitute, alcoholic, drug addict, suicide victim or some other undesirable outcome.
INSTEAD...WORDS...and the other GIFTS/talents/tools I was blessed with...and finally becoming a prodigal daughter and re-discovering the GOD who created me has KEPT ME from the destructive path I might have followed!
I also re-discovered that "best seller" The BIBLE...and I began to re-read HIS WORD as the "Manufacturer's Manual"!
(You've likely heard that B. I. B. L. E. stands for: "Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth"!)
So you see how WORDS are like WATER...Necessary for LIFE! BUT BEWARE that they DO NOT KILL!
YOU and I can think of dozens of examples of how WORDS have brought great JOY or caused great HARM. Just imagine a WORLD where WORDS saved lives...spared disasters...brought PEACE...changed the OUTCOME...or even LED a SOUL to the Saving Grace of knowing JESUS/YESHUA.
He said, "My sheep hear my voice"....I am hanging on his every WORD!"
Good WORDS TO YOU, my friend...Thanks for joining me on today's Journey. :)
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