When I was about eleven years old, I stepped on a bee, which immediately proceeded to sting my toe. Oh, how I howled and yelped, hopping on my one foot to my house. It was the first- and hopefully, the last time I was stung by a bee.
Why am I mentioning this? Years later, I’ve been following Rabbi Lapin’s teachings; I recently came across a real doozy of one, concerning bees. It turns out that the word for “bees” and “word” is the SAME word in Hebrew!!!! According to Rabbi Lapin,
“Hebrew emphasizes this dual nature of words, their ability to sweeten or sting by using one word for both ‘bees’ and ‘word’: DeVaRiM- words and DeVoRiM- bees. In Hebrew Scripture vowels do not appear, so though the words are pronounced slightly differently, they are exactly the same.”
And yes, this got me to thinking again. Words are, indeed, so powerful; they can be sweet or they can sting- ourselves or other people. What do we use are words for, in our lives? Encouragement? Gossip? Comfort? “Fat talk?” What have we said to and about others lately? What have we said to about ourselves lately? Words are there, no matter what. We choose, make no mistake about it!
“Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”
Proverbs 18:21
Are we then, foolishly, destructively, stepping on painful bees by choosing to harm, rather than heal, others and ourselves? Each of us needs to watch our words; you never know who is listening, who is influenced BY them. Do we want words that are sweet honey or vicious weapons? Each of us must choose. Before we speak, let’s think about the tiny bee. What will we do now, concerning our words?
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