The Power of Words

Note:  This was my entry for last year's NCRA Young Author Project in the "Forever Young" category.  The theme was, "The Power of Words"  My entry, and others from across the state have been published in an anthology attesting to the power of words.
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I am a logophile -- a lover of words.  My favorite games are Scrabble and Boggle and Scattergories. I love the song “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” -- (and no, I didn’t even have to look up how to spell it). . . . it resonates with me...having a word that is just right when you don’t know what to say.  Words have power.  Some have power when they roll off the tongue -- you feel it to the core of your being when you say, “superfluous” or “meticulous” or “serendipity” or “paradoxical” or “zephyr”-- the power of words well-spoken -- just right for the occasion.  Some words have power in the meaning -- they are deep and life-changing:  love, betrayal, acceptance, loyalty, and trust.  The power of some words come from the speaker and their abilities, their charm, their magnetism -- for good -- or for bad.  When Hitler spoke -- or Martin Luther King Jr -- people listened to their words -- and there was power in them -- power in words well-crafted, framed and embellished by a powerful speaker, lilted, tilted, and crescendoed at just the right time in just the right way -- eloquence. Poets and authors -- gifted with mellifluous words that drip off the tongue like so much honey -- have long since and will forever more draw us to anger or tears or fear or love -- just by their words. A word, spoken in anger and frustration can ruin a friendship.  Another word can just as easily build one. Words are the DNA of life -- the building blocks of careers and relationships and stories, passed down from one generation to the next -- the genes of literacy.  
Even God used words to create something from nothing -- “Let there be light.” -- and there was light. Such power flows from tongue and lips and teeth.  Such power resonates from heart and head. With great power comes great responsibility.  That is why the scriptures say to guard our heart -- because everything flows from it.  That is why the psalmist says, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you,  O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”  I don’t know of any greater prayer.  It has been weighing heavy on my heart -- to make my words count -- to make them encouraging and positive.  If, indeed, the Creator shared his gift of words with me, the least I can do is to use them in ways that will make Him smile and make a difference for good in this world, because words have the power to do just that!