(I said something crazy this morning at church and I’ve been thinking about it a lot today. Here are a few thoughts.)
“Kind words are a creative force, a power that concurs in the building up of all that is good, and energy that showers blessings upon the world.” Lawrence G. Lovasik
I went to church this morning. Our church is named, “Crossroads Fellowship” and there is usually a time in the service when the pastor asks us to stand up, turn around and greet someone nearby. “Tell them welcome to Crossroads.” I promptly stood up, as asked, and went directly over to a woman sitting in the row across from me and said, “Welcome to Cross Words.”
Immediately, I realized I had said the wrong thing and laughed if off. “Oh, I’m sorry! I meant to say ‘Crossroads.’” “It’s alright,” she said laughing at my faux pas. “I know what you meant.”
I went back to my seat, rather embarrassed because no one in that church had every said a cross or harsh word to me. I began thinking about what I had said. So many times, churches are places that “cross words” are either spoken aloud or thought about. People are actually greeted with cross words. Churches should never be a place where angry or hurtful things are said. People want to feel safe in church. They want to be spoken to in a kind and gentle manner.
I know that Jesus had some cross words in the temple one time, but it was outside where the money changers (those who exchanged foreign money for ‘temple money’) ripped off the poor people in the exchange and then turned around and overcharged them for the doves they bought for their sacrifice. They were taking double advantage of the poorest of the poor. Jesus’ cross, angry words were for the protection of the poor. He thought the evil men were making the poor suffer more than necessary and in the process, made God look bad to His people. Jesus was the poor people’s advocate that day.
I love that church is a place where words should build up, strengthen, encourage and express love. Cross words should be crossed out unless they are used to protect those who are poor and hurting. “Welcome to Cross Words” was a blaring reminder to me that my words should make “Cross Roads” a place of safety and healing for myself and others.
The outside world can be scary enough. Let’s keep our churches places of refuge!
I thought I’d make up a list of kind words. Along with random acts of kindness, we could add these random words of kindness to our conversations with others. Don’t be surprised if they become magical to those who hear them and the world around them changes forever!
List of Kind Words
Accept, accomplice, abundant, agree, available, adventurous, articulate, affectionate, beautiful, bloom, brave, believable, centered, cool, cuddly, cute, courteous, cherish, clever, caring, compassion, courageous, cheerful, dependable, discerning, delight, divine, elegant, exciting, eager, efficient, energy, fun, funny, faithful, flourish, friendly, genuine, giving, generous, genius, hard working, hope, heartfelt, harmony, honest, ideal, incredible, joy, kind, loyal, loveliness, luminous, master, meaningful, nice, novel, open minded, out going, optimistic, pleasant, pretty, peace, powerful, quest, quick, reliable, reassuring, recognize, respect, support, splendid, sweet, sensitive, thoughtful, talented, truthful, thankful, team, tactful, unity, vibrant, welcome, winning, wonderful, zest
If you can think of any words or phrases that were kind and life giving to you, please share them! We could all benefit from your encouragement!
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