Words

In our house, we have a family of full of therapeutic children. This means that they come from a variety of backgrounds, but they are children non the less. For the beginning parts of their lives they have been raised in chaotic, violent or neglectful homes. Each child that enters has had a different set of rules, a different way of doing things and a different set of behaviors. Coming into a family that is established with rules and standards of living must be hard. One of the things that I have noticed most, are the way that they speak to authority figures and people that are taking care of them.

For our kids, spewing hate was a regular thing for them growing up. They were only three and a half when we got them, but they were sponges. Their behavior really started showing more recently as they have gotten older. When I was growing up, the word Hate was never used. As we got older I have to say that used the word Hate more than I was supposed to. I tried to only use it when I hated certain things, but I will admit I have said it about a person before. The guilt almost killed me but I can't pretend that I didn't do it.

No matter how mad I made my parents, they never once said that they hated me. No matter how mad I got that them, I never said I hated them because that would be a complete lie. I may not have always liked what they did or how they handled my situations but I cant love them any less. However, the kids that enter our home have been told that they were hated. They have heard so much hate spewing from the mouths of those that were supposed to take care of them.

I get so frustrated when I hear the kids saying rude things to our parents because that's not how I was raised. We have tried to teach them that they have to be careful with words but they can't seem to understand. I get so angry at them when they spew their hateful words and I often want to spit them right back because they are so hurtful but then I try to remember that they were raised differently. They were not raised with the Lord in their hearts.

My parents are God loving, God fearing people who have chosen to take care of children that no one else wanted. When we signed up we did not sign up thinking that we could fix the kids. I have tried to change them and make them understand that words are powerful. God has said it time and time again in the Word. The tongue is a two edged sword. I have been so worried about the awful words that come out of the kids mouths, that I haven't paid attention to myself.

No matter what he words are, if they are meant for harm, they are sin. I think we can all say that no matter where we came from, we say things that we don't mean, and we say things that hurt others. We may not mean to say them, but its just like we tell the kids, once you say them you can't take them back. Lucky for us, we have a God that is forgiving. We have to remember that words can hurt and that saying things to hurt others is not okay and it's not how God created us to be.

It's like the song by Hawk Nelson, words can build you up and words can break you down. So lets stop and think before we speak because bringing people down is not how we should act. For those children who came from rough backgrounds, its our job to show them the love of Christ even when they don't show that love back to you.