Sticks & Stones

Who reading this has heard the saying ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?’ If you have ever been the recipient of harsh words, or kept awake at 2am by words spoken in a meeting replaying over and over in your mind, then you will know that that statement is not entirely true. 
Words are incredibly important, so important that humans have created sophisticated languages to convey very sophisticated concepts and feelings.  It’s one of the reasons we were each offered ‘star words’ to bring before God throughout the course of the year and see what He had to speak and reveal to us about them.  My word was community, and I must say that I was unimpressed at first. ‘Oh man, I know you want us to be thinking and praying about our neighbours, you’ve been making that quite clear Lord.’
But as I have used this as a tool to focus some of my conversations with God, I have found that He has used this to speak depth and delight into my understanding of the community that He is primarily situated in – the Trinity - as well as depth and delight into my understanding of the faith community that I am primarily situated in – among you.
My year is not over, I am excited that God still has things to reveal to me using this word. Words are important. Words can hurt, but they can also heal and reveal truths of God. What is God revealing of Himself to you through your star word? Don’t forget to share some that you are learning within your faith community! If you don’t have a star word, come and see me – I have more.

Colleen