Creating Peace in Others ..or Taking it Away

I love considering how we can encouraging each other to a peaceful balance of utilizing our resources and blessing others through them. I love seeing how my effort to be more available for God's peace to fill me, can perhaps give others the ability to experience God's peace in their own life..I say that in a general "us" kinna way, rather than something I specifically do ..but I love to consider it.

For me, along with considering how we can encourage peace in each other, is considering how we can do the opposite of that. Specifically, I have considered lately how negativity in our words, attitudes and actions can serve to take peace away from those around us.

I know we have all been there ...when others' lack of peace affects us in a negative way. When their words, harshness, stress, bad attitude can suck the peacefulness of our hearts away in a second. It may take a careless or unloving word to ruin much more than just a moment of peaceful rest in God's goodness.

Even in the midst of positivity, a negative outlook can ruin things.

I had a opportunity recently to be in a position where I was able to receive feedback about a heart-deep service offering to my sisters in Christ. It is one of things that I and a friend of mine give months of thought and heart to. We have a team of people who encourage us, support us, work along side of us and pray through this work on a yearly basis.  We love it.

I was amazed this year, to receive an abundance of awesome and wonderful feedback about the work we did once it was completed. We had alot of really great and encouraging words given to us, then and since. It seems though, that in our human weakness we default to only really thinking about those few negative comments that hurt us in the moment they were said.

Its silly really - the ratio of good to bad comments is crazy..like 98:1 ...but amazingly it still did a number on the peace that we got from doing that work.

Really, its just a reflection of my own weakness and pride...but it made me realize how important the words we use are. How one negative word or thought shared at the wrong time can be so damaging to God's servants and ultimately His work.

It has made me more aware of how I use my words, and how negativity can have such an dramatic effect on how a person experiences the peace that comes from doing God's work, or living their purpose. Its a powerful tool in Satan's arsonel, especially for women!

I think we need to reflect carefully on these words, keep them close to our hearts and meditate on them so when we get the opportunity to say something that may steal a person's peace we can remember ...

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Eph 4:29 (NIV)



The New Living Translation puts a bit more simply, "...Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them."

Certainly, this requires some serious considering of the words that come out of our mouths (a tough one for me!) ...but worth the cost, when we consider that we can do much to encourage peace in others and take it away just as easily.

As an end note ...I am totally over anything negative that was said (we did a GREAT job!), but the lesson was still an important one! :)

{Welcome ifellowshippers! ..thanks for visiting!}