Educator
Hal Urban
reminds his readers of the power of words in Positive Words, Powerful Results. Words create pictures in our
minds. They influence our buying decisions and health. One of the most
important things about words is that we can chose how to use them, whether to
build up or to tear down.
Urban encourages people to use words to build up. Use kind, affirming,
complimentary words. Tell people what they are doing right. Express interest in
people and ask them about themselves.
In addition to influencing others, words can reveal what is going on
inside of us. Our choice of words reveals whether our thoughts and feelings are
positive or negative. As Jesus put it, “A
good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings for that which is good;
and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings for that which is
evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke
6:45).
If we want to produce positive words that help people, we need to be
concerned about what goes into that treasure of our hearts. There is a lot of
trash out there and if we don’t limit our exposure, we can easily become full
of it. There is also plenty of good and we can seek it out. Just as we choose
what we say, we can also choose much of what we hear.
Though it is couched in a discussion of the words we use, Urban is
engaging a larger issue of how we treat each other. He encourages kindness, gentleness
and generosity.
These virtues may demand more than words, but they still demand expression in
speech; they cannot be advanced by harshness and complaining.
Urban’s background as a teacher comes through both in the examples he
draws on and the way he writes. The book is not written for children, but I
think it is within the grasp of high school students and possibly younger
children, particularly if an adult were going through the book with them.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
No comments:
Post a Comment