“Sticks and stones may break my bones / But words will never hurt me”  Children’s rhyme

If your doctor had just completed a thorough examination and discovered that you had a life-threatening condition, would you want to know about it?  Why?

Those who love to talk will experience the consequences, for the tongue can kill or nourish life.  (Prov. 18:21; NLT)

When I write my Daily Grams, I usually search for a quote that conveys the point I am writing about in a succinct, pithy manner.  Today’s quote is unusual (for me) in that the information it conveys is a terribly destructive, boldfaced lie!  You’re probably asking, “How do you really feel about that, Jerry?” 

In actual point of fact, sticks and stones inflict wounds that will usually heal (unless it is a beating unto death), whereas words can and often do inflict wounds that will be with you the rest of your life.  Words actually have an even greater ability to kill you than sticks and stones.  To make matters even worse, it doesn’t have to be words someone else speaks to you…it could (and often is) the words you speak to yourself, either in the form of self talk or in the form of self-deprecating humor.

This was really brought home to me as I was listening to an interview with Lynne McTaggart, famous author of several books including The Field and The Intention Experiment.  In that interview, Lynne tells the story of her mother-in-law who had end-stage breast cancer.  Her medical doctor told her to get her affairs in order as she only had three months to live.  Once she received that dire prognosis, she started to get very ill very quickly.  Her family finally took her to another doctor who was noted for his practice of alternative cancer therapy.  During his examination, he looked at her breast, which at this point was virtually “raw meat” according to McTaggart who was present, but instead of recoiling in horror, he just shrugged his shoulders and said, “Oh, we can handle that.”  The family now looks back on that incident and firmly believes that the decision of that doctor to give hope instead of a deadly prognosis is what allowed Lynne’s mother-in-law to get well.

A footnote in McTaggart’s The Intention Experiment reads: “Dr. Larry Dossey calls negative diagnoses ‘medical hexing,’ and there is anecdotal evidence that patients often live up to their doctor’s gloomy prognosis, even when there is no physical evidence that they should do so.  For a potent example, see the story of a leukemia patient who was thriving until he happened to find out what he had.  He was dead within a week once his illness had the label of a potentially terminal illness.”

It kind of makes you wonder if the medical professionals are acting responsibly when they sit down with you and tell you the “truth.”  What makes them think they know  what the truth really is.  In point of fact, they may actually be speaking a curse over you which has the effect of causing a self-fulfilling prophecy.  No one has the power to say who will live and who will die.  There are too many examples of patients recovering from terminal illnesses to make a statement of finality with any kind of certainty.  It would seem far more responsible for the medical professional to say something like, “There have been many cases of people in your situation who have made a complete recovery.”  Notice how a statement expressed like that keeps the door for recovery open.  As McTaggart says, “There’s never a reason why they [the medical professional] can’t give hope.”

I don’t want to limit this to an apparent indictment of medical professionals.  The same principles regarding the power of words applies to the rest of us as well.  The Manufacturer’s Handbook is absolutely right when it says that “the tongue can kill or nourish life.”  So, bottom line, be very careful what you say…about others and about yourself–even in jest.  And remember, since words come from thoughts, many feel that thoughts are just as potent as words.  Now you can’t stop a negative thought from popping in your head, but you can be responsible to replace it with a positive thought as soon as you recognize the negativity.  That same Handbook admonishes us to take every thought captive.  Yes, it takes a little practice…but it’s worth the effort.

Prayer Power
Lord, we thank You for our ability to communicate with You and with each other with language.  We ask Your forgiveness when we use that language in a way that harms rather than blesses.  Grant us the grace to only speak words of blessing.

Link of the Day
Do You Believe in Magic?

Blessings on you as you begin to weight your words very carefully from this point forward.