Words are such an important part of our lives. Whenever I read a book that has been made into a movie, I’m always curious how the written words will be interpreted and portrayed on screen. Most often I’m disappointed because the movie left out many details or the sentiment of the story was changed. The Grinch, one of my favorite books, is a great example. The original film follows the written story almost exactly, but the live action version is impossible for me to watch. I can’t stomach the slapstick humor and transformation of the Who village residents. To me, Dr. Seuss’s words got lost in translation. When the more recent cartoon version came out, I was wary. Even though it strays from the language of the original text, my own personal opinion is that the film did a great job of modernizing the story while keeping with the original sentiment. Anyway…long story long…the same words can be interpreted in so many different ways. Even though I would like to think that I’m always careful and thoughtful with my words, I can think of multiple times when I wish I could erase my words and try again. Our words make an impact on others and even though I can’t control the interpretation in another person’s mind, I can do my best to choose words that will best represent my sentiment. James offered some great advice in the Bible about being slow to speak. If only I always remembered that advice so I could choose my words more carefully.
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. James 1:19 NIV