Check Your Heart

“You need to learn how to speak words that are more uplifting.” The flesh in me bristled at the words that were being tossed at me. I had just come off speaking to a women’s conference about becoming an encourager. I had just agreed to write an eBook for a women to use as a giveaway for a fund raiser for Haiti about being encouraging.

The person on the other end of the line did not know me. That person had never been in a position to experience my heart, my passion or my walk. The words spoken that day were about one moment in time. But the words that came from that person grabbed hold of my flesh and I just could not seem to shack them.

“Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight.” – Proverbs 26:2

It never ceases to amaze me how God will put your answer in your heart long before you have need of that answer. Several weeks ago the verse about a curse without cause came up in our accountability group. I finally understood that it did not mean that curses would not come but that when I was doing what I know to do then the curse will not “alight” on me.

I have lots of sparrows that flitter around our back yard. Even when they come to the bird feeders, they never sit still. It is almost like they cannot find the perch that will make them comfortable.

“You need to learn how to speak words that are more uplifting.” I have not been able to loose that statement from my thoughts. It has followed me around all week and taunted me as I would try to sleep. Even as I provided research to a friend for “lifting up a fallen brother” and used my own writings, I still could hear those words echoing in my head.

Check Your Heart

1. Words that stick may have some validity to them. I intend to spend the next few weeks in my own personal study time looking at the words that I have been speaking, writing and thinking. There is a reason that this “curse” has managed to alight.

2. Words that stick may be driving you deeper. My gut reaction is to know that I am a good, positive and uplifting person. But my heart wonders if maybe I have grown comfortable where I am in my life. Just because I do try to lift people up does not mean I need to stop growing in that endeavor.

3. Words that stick may be preparing you for what lies ahead. Opportunities are opening up in my life for my walk in the church, my writing and my speaking. This “curse” that has alighted in my heart may be a wakeup call that I need to go further up and further in. I will never change the words that were poured out or the person that poured out the words, but I can choose to use the moment to grow my own life and my own heart and to push closer to the purpose for which I was woven.

4. Words that stick to not have to remain stuck. There have been things said of me in the past that were hurtful. Releasing those words through my own growth in the Holy Spirit has been some of the most refreshing acts I have ever experienced.

Do I need to work on being more uplifting with my words, thoughts and actions? The simple truth is that I do need to continue in my quest to live the good, positive and uplifting in every aspect of my life.

Have you checked your heart lately?