Power of Words

​When I was a little man about 4 years old, my mom got remarried. The man my mom married had 2 other kids, a boy and girl from a previous marriage also. The boy (now my brother) was the same age as me; we are 3 months apart from each other. And the girl (now my sister) is 2 years younger than me and my brother. So, we became a blended family. However, throughout the years of us growing up it was one family. What we didn’t know until years later was that when they planned on getting married, they decided they would not use the WORD “step” in our family. As we grew up we were a family and if you didn’t know us prior, you would have had no idea that it was a blended family. However, the word step was never used, ever. Not even within the family my mom and I entered when she remarried.
I remember being in Augusta one summer with my mom’s new husband’s parents (my grandparents). I was standing next to my Papa and Grandmother in Church and this lady came up to them said “oh is this your step-grandson?” I word that I never heard me described as. As a little guy it hurt me to hear that. But I remember my Papa and Grandmother both wrapped their arms around me and said, “No, this is our grandson. We don’t use the word step in our family.” At that very moment, the hurt I had felt was gone. It’s amazing how that word “step” made me feel. 
Words are powerful. We’ve all been wounded at some point by careless, unkind or mean statements. Their effect on our lives, even years later, is undeniable. No matter how much we deny it, it still makes us cringe to remember the taunts of the second-grade bully on the playground and makes us want to crawl under a rock to think of that rumor spreading through the high school hallways.
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue,” Proverbs 18:21” says. The impact our words have on others cannot be overstated. One small comment or remark can make the difference between building a relationship up or tearing it down. We have the power to either encourage or destroy others with our speech. 
The words that we speak have the power to do great good or great harm. If we speak words of encouragement and hope, we can lift others up. And that’s exactly what God commands us to do. I’m glad that my parents decided not to use the word step in our family and because of this I know for a fact this is why we are one family.