First Words

What were your first words this morning?

Maybe you greeted each person with a soft and sleepy salutation. Maybe you woke to a wide-eyed toddler peering over your bedside, wanting breakfast. You asked if she wanted to climb up and sit with you a few minutes. You helped her onto the bed, hoping she would fall back asleep so you could avoid getting up so early. A tired parent can dream.

Perhaps you hit the snooze button and slept through the second alarm. You woke up thinking this much golden light shouldn’t be streaming through the window. A litany runs rampant in your brain as you whip off blankets.

I need to go to bed earlier. 

I need to get up early so I can have some alone time. Or prayer time.

I should never hit the snooze button. What a horrible invention.

Why did I watch three episodes of The Crown last night?

I need coffee!

More stress-inducing words bellow through the halls. But you don’t have time for full sentences. You bark commands. Up. Now. Late. Backpack. Car. You run downstairs and grab breakfast bars or Pop-tarts and water bottles. If you had time to read anything, you’re probably thinking, I can’t even relate to what I just read. (All you Glorious Table readers are thinking, I know, right?)

No matter how our mornings start, we can choose our first words. Gentle or cheerful greetings in the morning have the power to set the tone for the entire day. Lamentations tells us God’s mercies are new each morning. Every morning we get a do-over. Every morning is God’s Good morning.

It’s not just about the first words of the day.

Each event and encounter, no matter how it starts, offers us opportunities to give greetings to those around us. Family. Teachers. Baristas. The check-in person at Planet Fit and Fab. Coworkers. Friends. The lady at the dry cleaners. It goes on all day. We have not one opportunity, but perhaps hundreds of them.

I began thinking about the power of first words last year in England. The British surprised me with their warm greetings. Whether in shops, on trains, or in pubs, their polite and friendly demeanor welcomed me as a visitor.

If you’re an introvert like me, you may respond by thinking you have only ninety-nine words a day, and you’ve usually used them all by 9:15 a.m. But I wonder if I’ve used this as an excuse to stay in my comfort zone, rather than lean on the Spirit of God to offer his polite, respectful, and gracious words.

Luke tells us about Jesus sending seventy-two followers in pairs ahead of him to every town and place he planned to visit. Don’t you find it interesting that the One who can do miracles sends people ahead of him? He gives them specific instructions: “‘When you enter a house, first say, “Peace to this house’” (Luke 10:5 NIV).

He asks them to offer first words—to calm, reassure, and bless. Why?

Words open doors and prepare hearts for kingdom work. Maybe this is a simple calling we’re missing: to soften hearts in a noisy, fearful, and fractured world.

In verse 6, Jesus assures them that if someone who promotes peace is there, their peaceful blessing will rest on that person. If not, the peace will return to them. He prepares the seventy-two by making a point that not everyone will receive them well, but not to take it personally. He adds that when people rejected them, they’d be rejecting him and the Father who sent him.

I don’t know about you, but I too easily let the disrespectful discourse and caustic ramifications stop me before I even step outside my home. Yet this is not how God calls me to speak or live.

Can you imagine how our homes, churches, schools, and communities could change if we began our conversations with peace-giving words? Gentle rather than harsh words? Open and vulnerable words rather than unapproachable and defensive words?

Let’s be women who approach and respond to others with words that set a tone of grace, offer encouragement, and give peace—to others, and even to ourselves. We need to be good stewards with our words because we don’t know how God is working in the recipient’s heart, or even in our own.

*For how our words matter with our kids, check out http://annvoskamp.com/2017/03/in-times-like-now-how-our-words-impact-our-children/.

Terri Fullerton is a wife, empty-nest mom, and mentor who loves stories of redemption and things that are funny. She is currently working on her first book. Terri longs to encourage others to find hope and freedom through her writing about faith, family, hiking, and mental health at Conversations at the Table.

Photograph © Nathan Lemon, used with permission