My entire life I’ve heard how words have power. They have the ability to deeply influence us and as we grow up, we literally begin identifying ourselves with the words that people have called us. The saddest thing is when those words
have some sort of negative connotation. We wear them and allow them to make up our very identity.
If you look in the mirror and see yourself. What do you see? What words come to mind? Do you speak life into yourself or do you point out all of the flaws? The majority of people reading this probably don’t have too many great things to say about themselves. And that all comes down to the fact that it’s so easy to wear words without realizing their impact.
You see, in the beginning we allow words to influence us. Influence just means that they sway us in one way or another. But once we continue wearing them, once they become comfortable, only then have we allowed them to impact us. We almost don’t know how to operate without them. What is one word you remember being called as a child? I bet you remember who said it, where you were, and what you were doing. That’s the impact words have on us.
They are immediate collisions into our lives influencing us until they have been deeply sewn into our identity. We wear old words like yesterday’s news. The craziest thing is most of the time, the negative words, the ones that were spoken out of someone else’s confusion, insecurity, or anger; those words are the ones we put on and wear the most.
They are the dirty laundry that make up our lives. We so willingly accept them and continue putting them on time and time again. The truth is, you do not have to be the words that you wear. You have the power to take those old clothes off and clean them. And the power with doing laundry is once you start cleaning those old things, then you will have the ability to help others know that they can, too.
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, just know that if someone told you that you would never be enough, that you are ‘too much,’ or that you are useless; know that you are adequate, just right, and will always be needed. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. It’s time to go to the laundry mat.
– Aubray Scott
