A Fly Can Make That Much Noise?

Everyone has embarrassing moments they remember from their childhood. Moments where you wish a hole would open up in the floor, and you could crawl in and let it close around you. When we look back on these moments and remember how mortified we were, and how we believed we would never be able to face our friends again, we see that it was not the big deal we made it out to be.

I remember in the 4th grade sitting in class taking a test with the classroom completely quiet. There was an annoying fly buzzing around distracting me from my work. I tried to ignore it, but it just kept bugging me. Finally, it landed on my bare thigh. SMACK! I missed. Then Miss Duval raised her head and looked over her glasses scanning the entire class with her eyes. She asked who had disturbed the test with that loud noise. I timidly raised my hand, and told her it was a fly. She stood up slowly, walked over to me and said, ”Barbara, do you think a FLY could make that much noise?”

I was totally humiliated as the class began to snicker at me. We went back to taking our tests, but I was devastated by her accusing words. She knew what I meant, but she humiliated me anyway. I never forgave her for that. It remains one of my worst memories from elementary school.

Now I am an elementary teacher and realize the power of my words. Adults can uplift kids with a word or tear them apart. Our words are powerful and should be used wisely. Like nailing a nail in a board we can take the nail out, but the wood remains forever marred by the hole. Our words leave a mark on kids, uplifting them or shaming them.

1 Corinthians 16:14. Do everything in love. 4 simple little words that are quite a challenge.

In Him,
Joyful
2-3-2010