WORDS

I think I’ve written before about how in the Cambodian culture it’s not normal for someone’s parents to tell him or her they love them.  In fact they consider it inappropriate for the word love to be used to describe any relationship besides a husband and wife.  I think I realized, at least to some degree, how that could have some negative implications on the people in this nation.  But lately I’ve been thinking about the other side of the coin and I’m just recently realizing how powerful words can be if you DO use them well.

I left Cambodia for 7 days to go home for my brother’s wedding (Which was so awesome by the way!  I’m so honored to welcome Ginny into our family! I couldn’t ask for more in a sister-in-law!).  And when I got back I didn’t expect the kind of reception I received.  The Cambodians I work with and have gotten to know from Café Eden (the café I work at in the mornings) were way too excited to see me.  They talked about how much they missed me and I heard from one of the girls on my team that they asked every day when I was getting back. 

I was really humbled by this and spent some time thinking about what I could have done in the 12 short days I was here in Cambodia with them before the wedding to warrant this kind of greeting. I didn’t crack some crazy awesome jokes, I didn’t buy them sweet presents, all I really did was ask them about their lives and encourage them in who I was realizing they were and in the things I saw them doing well.  It’s amazing what speaking life into people who rarely experience encouragement can do to knit your hearts together in such a short time.

Proverbs 18:21 says “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”  It’s so true, there is so much power in what we say.  While words can be used (or not used) to tear people down they also have the power to lift people up into the greatness God is calling them too.  As I’ve been asking God to give me His eyes and His heart for people I’m starting to see even more of the greatness in people than I ever have before.  Speaking life to someone and encouraging them isn’t, and shouldn’t ever be, fake.  Everyone has greatness in them because they were created in the image of God.  As we ask for God’s heart for people He will reveal it to us and will enable us to speak it out to them. 

This interaction with the Cambodian workers at Café Eden has made me even more aware of how powerful words are.  I hope and pray that I can become someone who people love to be around because they feel known and loved by their heavenly father through me.  Love and missions has never felt so easy.  Giving someone a straightforward compliment about WHO THEY ARE not something they have done is so counter cultural for some of us and although it feels awkward it was what we were made to do.  And the fruit of this kind of living is so much greater than we realize.

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” -1 Thessalonians 5:11