WORDLE – Words Matter
A couple of weeks ago, my granddaughter, Alexia, introduced me to the online game, WORDLE. I tried it and I was hooked. I may have been known to snap a photo of my conquests and send it to her (like yesterday). Three tries and I had the right word.
A simple online game became a million-dollar phenomenon and was snapped up by the New York Times. It is a free online daily word game that has reportedly amassed millions of players since its inception just four months ago. The appeal is in its simplicity: pick a five-letter word, any five-letter word, and start from there. If any letters turn green, they’re correct and in the right place. Yellow = right letter, wrong place; gray means try again. Six goes to get to the word of the day, and that’s it. No hints or cheats. You get your next game when the clock strikes midnight.
It all started with a software engineer who wanted to create a simple game for his partner — which has now been bought by The New York Times for a 7-figure sum. Cowabunga!
Of course, I’m going to segue from Wordle to words that REALLY matter. Wordle inspired me beyond its fun brain challenge. I might be on a tangent – better said, a mission. A mission to help some friends be more careful with the words they speak over themselves like “I’m so stupid. I’m too lazy. I can’t believe I did that. My brain is messed up. I’ll never get this (speaking of a game). I’m forgetful.” You know what I mean. We’ve all heard them and sometimes we’ve heard those self-deprecating words coming out of our own mouths. I love my friends AND me too much to let negative words and thoughts consume us.
I’m going somewhere with this blog. I have a word that bears repeating. The word is WORD — a single, distinct, element of speech or writing, used with others (or sometimes alone) to form a sentence. That sounds innocent enough. Right? Oh, but our WORDS matter!
Our WORDS convey who we are and what is in our hearts. “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) Yikes!
Our reputation may be subject to what comes out of our mouths. When we speak, people listen to those words and are refreshed and encouraged or they are discouraged, and darkness invades the atmosphere. And who wants to be there?
God proved that WORDS matter. He started out this massive universe with creative WORDS: “Let there be light, and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). Our good WORDS matter, even when we are speaking to ourselves. How much better to speak to ourselves affirming and positive words.
“Words can bring death or life! Talk too much, and you will eat everything you say” (Proverbs 18:21). We were made in God’s image. He created this world with His words. We, too, create with our words. We can usher in praise when the world seems to crumble around us. We can bring hope when everything seems hopeless. We can soothe a troubled heart, when someone is in despair. We can bring LIFE with our words.
In our lifetime, we could fill a library with the words we speak, and if we did, what would the titles of those books be? Our words have a powerful influence on others. God is looking for messengers of hope, faith and love and He wants our WORDS to be on target each day doing just that.
Proverbs 16:24 says “Pleasant words are honey from a honeycomb— sweet to the soul and healing for the body.”