Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: DULL (05/12/17)
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TITLE: Her Father's Words | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marilyn Klunder
05/18/17 -
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“Why do you do that to her?” The mother asked. “Don’t you see how that hurts her?”
“I’m just teasing her; it was a joke,” he said with a smirk still thinking it was funny. “She just needs to grow a tougher skin.”
“Jokes are to make people laugh. Look at her…she’s not laughing!” The mother yelled.
How ironic that the one calling the little girl stupid was so dull in his understanding of his cruel and painful words to a six year old little girl, who only longed for her father’s loving affirmation and approval.
The Bible explains that the tongue, although a small part of the body, is powerful in the words that it conveys. The words we choose to speak reveal our heart condition. “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Luke 6:45 (NIV) The words this father spoke to his daughter revealed a dullness of heart; a condition of indifference, uncaring and insensitivity to the wounds inflicted by his careless tongue. His words changed throughout her growing up years, but their meaning was always the same, “you’re stupid.”
The little girl carried her father’s painful words in her heart for many years. Eventually the little girl stopped crying in front of him. As she grew into a young lady she started to build emotional walls to protect herself from the onslaught of sarcasm and a sharp malicious tongue. As a young woman she sometimes fought back, but her shoulders always revealed the weight of her pain; the pain of her father’s words that made her feel unloved, unwanted and unworthy of his love. Many a bad choice was based upon these words that echoed through her heart.
The young girl is grown now and the mother of her own daughter. By the grace and love of another Father, she has grown into a beautiful, courageous woman whose light is no longer dimmed by painful words. She has forgiven but not forgotten her arduous beginnings.
“Mom, I don’t want my daughter to feel the pain that I did growing up. I want to affirm to her she is beautiful, smart and worthy of being loved. I want her to know there is nothing she can’t do that God’s love and grace won’t see her through.” She confided one day. And with affirming words to her daughter she has done just that.
How ironic that the one calling the little girl stupid was so dull in his understanding.
“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24 (NIV)
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As a principal, I was always addressing bullying at my schools. Demeaning words are as cruel as a punch in the face.
You did a good job at the first half, but I wished you would have continued with showing how it affected her throughout her life using active examples instead of just passive accounts.
It was a very good story and teaching tool. God bless.