Jeanette Hanscome

Happy Monday from Jeanette, writing from exciting snowing-one-minute-and-sunny-the-next Reno. I spent most of today, not writing, but talking with my bank’s fraud department. Apparently someone borrowed our account number for some overseas purchases. “That’s it,” I told the bank representative. “Nobody in this family is ever ordering anything online again.” It’s possible that that’s all it took—an innocent purchase put information out there for a sick individual to snatch up for who knows what (make that, I don’t want to know what). It probably took them five minutes to rob us, while it took me hours to undo the damage.

Cleaning up a mess takes so much longer than making one. As a writer this prompted me to think about how I use words. Am I putting words out there that will add some inspiration or encouragement to a reader’s day, or flippantly throwing whatever I feel like sharing out there, with no thought for how it might be received or interpreted? Am I communicating truth that has the power to heal or inflicting wounds that could take years to mend? Is my creative way with words being used for God’s glory or my own?

Tools like blogs and Facebook put our words out there for anyone to read . . . forever. It’s sobering to think about it. But is it possible to turn this into a good thing (lest this post should turn into a total downer instead of reflecting Monday “Encouragement for the Writer’s Life” theme)?

What can we write that could possibly benefit many by being out there forever? How can we repair damage with our words instead of causing it? Today, let’s ask God to fill us with the words that He wants out there!