So click on the arrow and enjoy!! Those of you who are Toby Mac fans will recognise my title immediately. This a great track he made with Blessing Offor. ps If you have not met TobyMac, I highly recommend his music. This man is not singing lyrics that are theoretical, rather his music is drawn from his own personal walk with God – he has had his tough times like all of us. Blessing himself is well-named!

It’s Christian hip hop BTW. I’ve been introduced to the joy of hip hop by my three darling granddaughters – I love it! Well, the good stuff – there are icky ones and I give them a swerve. I think that music that is written from real life – using real words – is a big plus. In my head those rhythms and words kind of bop away in the background of my thoughts. Music is a great tool to help us pull focus as well as comfort us when we are struggling. And I love the cheery, chatty aspect of hip-hop. 

On to today’s blog … the other day hubby and I were chatting away and he made a comment that got stuck in my head and eventually my heart. He said: “Why is it that the church focusses so hard on what we shouldn’t say instead of focussing on and teaching us about how we should talk to other people?”  My answer is the same as usual … I always stick with my trusty “I dunno!” That phrase is very helpful, it takes all the pressure off me having to be brilliant instantly, and answer knotty questions. Particularly the ones that I have no clue about. But I thought about what he said quite a lot, afterward.

In the dim dark ages when I was a child, there was a professor on TV who talked about science. His manner and natural curiosity created a fascination with that subject that still continues in my life today. His catch cry was “why is it so?” — that got so stuck in my psyche somewhere and now I ask myself that question a lot. It seems to me that it is far more important to teach people how to SPEAK LIFE to each other, than it is to teach them not to be rude, gossip or swear. Abstinence creates a vacuum and things can fall into it!

In my experience, speaking life to others can actually become a way to relate to others – kind of a way of life – a good habit. I’ve watched hubby do it over and over again when we go on the road and he is talking to people-who-don’t-know-Jesus-yet. I’m not talking about flattery, or what my dear mum would call ‘palaver,” which is hollow and sounds wrong even when it comes out of your mouth. 

I’m talking about noticing a positive quality in another person and lovingly appreciating it, out loud. You operate with the purpose of building others up. It really doesn’t take that much more effort to find something good about someone else. Sadly, the bad things usually slap you right in the face, and you are left scrambling to escape. But if you can find a good thing to say to someone who clearly got out of the wrong side of the bed, sometimes that soft answer will totally turn away wrath.

Meanwhile the great point about speaking life, is this —when it is properly executed, it opens spiritual doors – and then you can shove love through the crack!!  It is all about paying attention to the person in front of you and noticing them enough to say something truthful that will build them up. When I am stuck I ask the Lord to show me what He sees.That’s a brilliant method BTW. The Holy Spirit is always so switched on to everyone’s hearts. I once asked the Lord what was wrong with a woman working at the check-out in a chain store, because if she was happy her face didn’t know about it! 

He said: “Her feet hurt.” So we did the usual, how-are-you-today-I’m-fine-how-are-you? And then I said: “This job must be so hard on your feet!” She looked at me with relief and she said: “They really are so sore today.” Like Aladdin said in his movie – it opened up “a whole new world” and we were able to pray for her sore feet! The conversation was over in minutes and she was smiling when we left.

The whole thing was a win-win situation, because I got to exercise my faith, take a risk and open my mouth. At the same time she felt seen, cared for, and momentarily understood! I mean nobody much sees the check-out person in a store, right? We can all just do the obligatory ‘how-are-you-today’ without even looking at them …but people don’t usually want an answer! My dear hubby always leaves people with a smile from ear to ear. Living like this changes the colour of everyone’s day. It’s great to speak life to everyone you meet. Bless you! 😇

“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.” Ephesians 4:29.