A Movie called Lincoln

I had been meaning to watch it for a while and on my day off this week I sat down to enjoy a movie called Lincoln.
Basically it retells the last few years of his life, his leading of a nation in civil war, and navigating strategically through his attempts to destroy slavery.

As I sat watching in somewhat of a tired mental state (due to our naughty neighbours partying all night) I found myself really having to concentrate on the dialogue. When was the last time you had to do that watching a movie? But yet this was the case for me...

The script it seems had purposely been written as close as possible to the language and speaking style of that time in history. And it struck me how sophisticated their language was compared to today. 
Even insults had a poetic ring to them. Everything they seemed to say had thought out purpose.
It was though they considered all their words to have vital and valued meaning, and just blurting a thought wasn't nearly good enough. It needed to be considered and delivered as effectively as possible.

This got me thinking about us today and how much it seemed to me our language wasn't the same as them. Was that a good thing or bad thing, or even a thing to be pondered?
Has the quickness of life dumbed our communication down?
Has the invention of 140 characters or less in tweets and text language all conspired against us in some way?
Has sharing an 'opinion' as though it is valuable at the time been really that beneficial for us all?

I think that what this challenged in me could be something we could all be challenged by...
To consider more carefully what we say and how we say it in every area of our lives.
With our family, or friends, or workplaces, those we meet on a street corner or even in a cafe.
Maybe our words should be held in higher value by ourselves and treated as something valuable, amazing and even powerful. Words able to bring good change and even reflect something of God to the world around us?

God's Word talks a lot about how we could and should use our words.
Here are few passages of the many that I am reading, meditating on, and seasoning my life with today...

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12:18

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. Proverbs 18:21

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. Matthew 12:37

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Colossians 4:6

Something to think about...