NOSH Pronunciation: 'näsh Function: noun Definition: a light meal : SNACK

In an earlier snack we remembered the taunt we used to use regarding sticks and stones breaking bones but names never hurting me. The position I took at that time was that the words we use are not empty, but can truly cause grievous harm to an individual. I still believe that, by the way.

Allow me to present for you the other side of that issue of spoken words. What I want to convey to you is the reality that words cannot only hurt another, but they can bring healing as well. The writer of the Book of Proverbs said it this way in 16.23-24: pleasant words bring healing to the bones.

I do not believe you can find a book which you can read, study, or train yourself as to which words are designed for hurting and which are focused on healing. Rather I believe one must be open to the Holy Spirit of God in any given situation - allowing him to guide the tongue into the proper channel for healing and away from the possibility of hurting another person.

One of the ways this is manifest in our worship is within the expanded declaration of the Lord’s blessing at the end of the Mass. It is imperative that I hear that God loves me, that he is not mad at me, that he has already forgiven my sins, that he wants only his best for my life, and that he wants to bless me! Now those truths will bring healing to the very framework of the human body, if I will allow for them to sink into my spirit.

That is the very reason I so often suggest that you chew on a snack and let it settle into your heart, and then to speak it aloud into your own ears. We all have ears, but not all of have ears with which to hear the Spirit of God. There’s a snack that’s real health food! Consume away!

cngdh+