Our picture from Pixabay today featuring many words, has been picked to tie in with our Thought For The Week below
On This Day
On January 23rd 1978 Sweeden became the first country in the world to ban aerosol sprays, believed to be damaging to earth’s ozone layer.
On January 23rd 2020 China locked down the city of Wuhan and its 9 million people, in a belated but ultimately successful effort to control the city’s Covid 19 epidemic. The rest of the world still had no idea of the Covid storm that was also heading their way.
Birthdays Today
Arjen Robben (Soccer Player) is 39
Ella Rodriguez (Instagram Star) is 24
Saint For Today
The Saint for today Jan 23rd is Saint John the Almsgiver. He lived in Cyprus in the 7th century
Significance Of Today
We continue the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which is an annual event that brings together Christians from different denominations to pray for unity among the church. It finishes this coming Wednesday
Interesting Quote For Today
““Don’t mix bad words with your bad mood. You’ll have many opportunities to change a mood, but you’ll never get the opportunity to replace the words you spoke.” ~Author Unknown
Did You Know
Did you know that the Philippines consists of 7,641 islands. The Philippines is an archipelago, which means it’s made up of a group of islands, 7,641 to be exact!
Thought For The Week
The tongue has no bones, but it is strong enough to break a heart. So be careful with your words.” ~Author unknown
We are surrounded by words and lots of words. There is a surplus of talk, from early morning until late at night. From chat shows, phone in radio programmes, café’s, pubs, shopping malls, mobile phones and social media, all ensure there is a constant flow of words. Some people have a natural gift for just talking. It is also said that Cork people have ‘the gift of the gab!’
A lot of research has been done around words and we are told that the average person speaks about 7000 words a day. For some it is much less than that and for others it is much more. But whatever number of words we may speak there are always two questions that go hand in hand at the end of any day. Did the words I spoke today make a positive difference? How many of those words made little or no difference at all?
It is easy to see that words matter. The human ability to speak and communicate is a constant wonder. Words so often reflect our inner life. If our inner life is not at peace and harmony, the words that we speak reflect that and can often come across as negative words or even angry words. If our inner life is reasonably at peace and in harmony then our words tend to be much more positive, upbeat, reassuring, comforting, hopeful and helpful.
When we look at the person of Jesus in our Gospels, we can see how his words were always positive, loving and reassuring. Yes, sometimes his words were direct and honest. But we hear many gospel accounts of people who were deeply moved by his words. His words are still so relevant for the world we live in today. In a world where many words can be negative, corrosive and divisive, it is always refreshing to read the words of Jesus and be inspired by them.
So how will you use words today? It is not about quantity but much more the quality of our words that matter. Will your words be gentle, hopeful, kind and positive? or will your words be flat, unhelpful or negative? The invitation of the gospel is to use words that are loving, gentle, positive, kind, reassuring, hopeful and to use words that make a real and lasting difference. Words do matter.
The Thought For The Week is updated each Monday
