The Power of Words

The Power of Words

                The other day I was driving and listening to Jimmy Evans. I have been trying to navigate through some pretty dark waters, waters that I am responsible for polluting, and I was guided to listen to him and his messages about love, marriage and positive and productive relationships. (Thanks Val)

One of his videos hit me right between the eyes, actually several did but one in particular resonated with me because I like to think of myself as a writer. He was talking about how what we say can have a profound effect on others. How the words we speak can build, give birth and nurture or tear down, stifle and destroy.

I have used my words poorly over the past few years. I love to write. It unlocks and taps into a part of me that I really believe is my gift from God. But it also allows me to escape, to disappear and to avoid life. I have used my words, spoken and written, to conjure realities that gave me a false sense of security, a false sense of connection and a false sense of self-worth. I see now that my words and the actions that accompanied them were creating and giving birth to a mask, to a false reality while it was also tearing down and destroying my connection to loved ones, to friends, to God and to myself.

I am on a new journey. I am dedicating my energy to being more genuine with my words and also making sure that my actions match those words. I want to be the best husband, father, friend, son, brother and man that I can be. But none of those things are realistic goals if I can’t first be the best Jermal I can be. I am not writing this to recruit cheerleaders, to search for sympathy or to initiate a dialogue among those that read it. I am simply writing it because my words will be the seeds of my actions. These words are words that I will measure myself against. These words are just the beginning…