Felt It in My Soul ***

Sunday morning as I listened to an online sermon by Annie Downs at Crosspoint church in Nashville, I felt touched in my soul by a story that she told. A virtual stranger who had stayed in Annie’s home for a mutual friend’s wedding had told Annie that she was “too much.” The stranger felt that it was Annie’s personality that kept her single. Annie pointed out that she could change her physical appearance, but she couldn’t change her “Annie-ness” — who she truly was.

Personally, I was beside myself when I heard this story because I’ve been there. I’ve been the person slain by someone else’s cruel words, and I’ve been so hurt and close to tears that I couldn’t even respond. I’ve bled emotionally at many a word that some unthinking person truly thought was helpful.

However, as Annie pointed out, I’ve been the person who sliced into someone else with a “well-meaning” sharp tongue. I’ve given as good — or bad — as I’ve taken. It would be completely wrong for me to deny it, and Annie didn’t deny it either.

That being said, what I loved the most was her talk point: Our words have power — good or bad. How are we using our power?

I felt deep in my soul the cut that she must have felt as she told her story, but I really started asking myself, ‘How am I using my words?’ Am I being fair to everyone I meet, or do I misapply the power of my words more than I care to admit?

We have all been Annie under attack by a stranger who thinks she knows what’s best, but let’s be honest with ourselves. We’ve all been the stranger who has attacked. We’ve all seen a situation where we immediately snapped to a judgment about a person in a predicament, and we’ve all had an opinion about what she did wrong and how she could fix it. We’ve all spoken in ignorance.

What Annie is trying to encourage us to do is to think twice about the power and influence of our words. We don’t know how long lasting that influence may be so let’s leave people on a positive note so that, when they say they felt something in their soul, it’s something positive — a sunbeam, a butterfly, or a song. Let us never leave a scar on someone else’s soul.

Enjoy Annie’s full talk The Power Within You.