Do you ever have flashbacks to those long-ago years in the school yard?

Maybe they are specific recollections of recess with friends or perhaps a lunch hour in the spring time when you and your classmates would all head out to the football field and re-enact the last plays of the NFL showdown you saw on television the prior weekend.

These are great memories.

But there are other memories of those yester-years too, aren’t there?

They are the flash-backs that you would rather forget. The ones where that big kid would call you names in front of the same group of friends you played those football games with. The words hurt you. The words haunted you.

On more than one occasion, I’ve challenged my own children to re-think what they have just said to someone.

Usually it is because they have spoken something that is not kind to a friend, or they have seemed to wish evil on another person with their words.

You know the lines, right? Statements to peers like, “I hate you! I don’t want to be your friend anymore!”

However, I also stop them and have them re-think their words when they have spoke a blessing or kindness over someone without realizing it.

You’ve heard these lines too I’d expect.

Statements like, “That was a great goal! I think you’re an awesome hockey player!”

I have my kids re-think these things because I want them to realize the weight of what they have said and how significant it is.

Words matter.

With words I can tear the hopes and dreams of a person to shreds. In the same way, I can increase a dream and speak life into the very soul of someone.

Nan Russell, a well-known management consultant has observed that, “Poorly chosen words can kill enthusiasm, impact self-esteem, lower expectations and hold people back. Well chosen ones can motivate, offer hope, create vision, impact thinking and alter results.”

I think she’s right.

This is true in the spiritual realm too. I can speak out a curse (calling out evil over someone) for someone with my words. In the same way, I can invite God’s blessing in the life of a person with what I say.

Even more, the Bible states that my words can have impact on Satan and his demons when they are spoken in the authority and the name of Jesus (Revelation 12.11).

Words matter.

The Biblical book of James says, “Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”

So how do we speak?

Do we treat the words that come out of our mouth with the weight that they deserve?

Personally, I’m really working at this in my life.

How about you? How are you doing?