The other day I was standing in line at the grocery store with some friends. We were waiting to be checked out when I saw a box of cookies—being the starving boy that I am, I grabbed the cookies and looked at them. They were beautiful: round and sugary, a slice of heaven in a white box. There were about 12 of them and I knew that I could eat them in a half hour with out even the slightest stomach ach. But as I lusted of these beauties my friend looked at my face, then my stomach. With his boney finger pushed it into my stomach. Poke. Dan, you’re getting a little pudgy. With that I placed the cookies down, zipped up my sweatshirt and crossed my arms. I looked away uncomfortably. I don’t think I’m fat but somehow his comment resonated with something that made me uncomfortable.
    And in the last 48 hours I occasionally look down at my average stomach and I think, am I really and dough boy?  Of course not.
    We all say things that we don’t mean. A lot of the time we think that these things are nothing, just simple comments but every once in awhile we realize that these little comments have meaning. Words have power. They can create or destroy, inspire or tear down.
    We create our lives around words and ideas. Ideas are identified with sounds from our vocal chords; these chords are related phonetically where we mark and scribble on parchments or pieces of paper. Boom, language is created and Dan is fat. So what does this mean? I have no idea, but it seems to me that there is meaning to language and the way it can make us feel, act and respond. It can make us feel uncomfortable or happy, meaningful or depraved. Language resonates with something inside us that causes us to respond. Even now, as I write and you are reading and something is happening inside you that is bringing you to conclusions and feelings that you didn’t expect. You are reacting. You are feeling as a result of language.
    This isn’t about psychology though. This is about us. When we bring language to the table of community we bring something that we all can respond to. When we speak we bring everything that we have to offer and give it unconditionally to another person. Language causes us to be vulnerable. If I ask you to listen with me to a song I am pouring myself into an experience with you. We become intimately connected into the same experience—and it starts with language.
    So when my friend jokingly says that I’m getting pudgy while he pokes my stomach, there is something to what he is saying. It has meaning. It has purpose.  But how many times do we reflect on the things people say to us, or more over, how many times do we reflect the on the things that we say. If language has the possibility to destroy or cause doubt, than it also has the possibility for the alternative. Language can create hope; language can create life. And isn’t that what we want to do any way, promote life? Isn’t that what Jesus offers us? He invites us to live our lives differently, with meaning and purpose. He invites us to re-imagining language, not as a tool for destruction, but as a tool for created a better world, a better existence. Who knows what this means for us as people, but it least causes us to think about what we saying. And allow us to act and live differently.

Daniel