What's in a word ?

I think it’s fascinating that if you change one letter in a word it becomes able to bring a blush to your cheek or a bleep on the tele! There must be power in the very words themselves.

It’s interesting that the Bible says it’s by God’s word that the world was made. He spoke, and it happened.

I’ve just been reading of a retreat centre in Wales where the staff are using words to do good to people. They are actually blessing them. Oh you might say, “bless you" means nothing. People throw the phrase at you when you sneeze! Ah but did you know that when a priest tells an evil spirit to come out of a person, it often comes out on a cough or a sneeze ? So then, “bless you” is not just a throw-away comment.

In this retreat centre, the staff tell visitors that it’s their tradition to bless them before they leave. They would speak a blessing on their work, their health their family etc. and then they found that the recipients were actually taken back by a “God-touch”. God really did something through that blessing, and these were not necessarily believing Christians.

It really makes you think about the words we say, so if we do believe in God, let’s bless a few people in St.Albans today.

Elspeth Jackman, from the Vineyard Church St.Albans.

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