Out of the Archives: Beneath This Flood

 'Beneath This Flood' was an article I had submitted in back in 2016, in my late teens/early 20 year old life. To the best of my knowledge, it was never published. I recently rediscovered it on a my old hard drive and decided to finally share it with the world. Posted below is a raw copy of it. Almost 6 years later, I have gained so much more knowledge in the writing world, but I grin as I remember the passion I had when I wrote this piece.

Along with the article, I intentionally chose this recent picture of my sister, Harmony, and I to be the face of it. Throughout my childhood and teenage years she was the core instructor in my life of what it means to be 'loving, kind and gentle'. In the speech I gave at her wedding I attributed these things to her, not remembering that I had once, long long ago, typed up this article, due to her constant pursuit in teaching me the power of words. 

Please enjoy this archived piece: 

Word count: 1541

Article Title: Beneath This Flood

Author Full Name: Helen Eleanor Headings

Email: hellieh22@gmail.com

*photo can be included if need be

Beneath This Flood is something that has been pressing on  my heart lately. It is written to express emotion to the reader, in a way that is easy to relate to. Beneath The Flood is about looking beneath peoples words and into the heart. It is about how gossip and hurtful nasty words can penetrate a heart into despair, and how loving words can rise above this sometimes undesirable world and speak volumes to hurting souls. This truly is a piece straight from my heart, and it joys me to share it with others.

Beneath This Flood.

{looking beneath the flood of words & at the heart.}

Written by Helen Eleanor

Her words shot like a downpour of rain… this was not a dainty, beautiful downpour. No, more like a heavy sharp rain...the kind of rain that beats at your skin, the kind of rain that feels like tiny pins pinching your very being… the kind of rain that, when caught in it, there is no escape. The words fell from her mouth without a second thought. One word in particular fell a little harder than the rest, landing sharply on a deep cut inside her friends heart… the word wedged its way into the wound, causing it to break deeper, as the other smaller words fell, burning painful holes into the recipients heart. Though it may have looked like she was innocently raining playful words on her friends life, the reality is, her friend was drowning in the flood of hurtfulness. There was no playfulness involved. Swiftly Her feet ran away, going to the next friend, undoubtedly to do the same thing… not realizing, what her words were. Not realizing what her words are...they are a downpour.

The secret is, everyone has words, and everyone's words are a downpour. What kind of downpour your words are, is your choice. A dainty beautiful downpour? Or a heavy sharp rain? Though they both may result in a flood one will help others grow, and thrive and one will break down others and cause them to drown. The obvious choice for everyone would be to choose to have a beautiful downpour of words, but let me let you in on another secret… You cannot be so focused on the initial flood of words that you forget to look beneath the flood. In other words, anyone can choose to say nice, beautiful words, but that is pointless unless you look beneath those words and look at the heart. What is going on beneath the array of kind or hurtful words? What is happening inside your very own heart?

Lets start at the heart. Just like a rain cloud, that carry's around raindrops, your heart is carrying around words. Eventually the cloud will produce rain, just like eventually what is inside your heart will come out. Now, listen closely, once a cloud has rained out all its raindrops, the flood in which it just rained begins to evaporate back into the sky… slowly making its way into the cloud again.  Once your words come out, they begin to evaporate into you and those around you. If you listen to the hurtful, ugly words of people, they will evaporate in you, and eventually you will be the one raining sharp words from your heart onto others. Be careful, friends, what you put into your heart…. Whether good or bad, it will come out in a downpour.

Have you ever taken time to stop and focus on the lyrics of a song you find yourself constantly listening to? Have you taken time to dig into the words of God? Have you ever picked apart the words someone has spoken to you? Have you picked apart and thought about the words you have spoken to someone? Are the words your putting inside of you helping you see the beauty in yourself and find your identity in Christ? Or are they demeaning and meaningless, leaving you empty? If your filling yourself with ugly, shallow words, how are you expecting to fill others with loving, uplifting words?… You may think its possible, but its not. Your heart will always shine through. 

If you have a genuine, patient heart, you will never fail to over and over flood people with dainty rainstorms, though there will be the days you get angry and say things you regret, remember your heart will be revealed in all that you say. We all will have moments of anger, but when you fill your heart with beautiful words, that moment of anger will be followed by grace from God, showing you, you were wrong to spew hateful words, and giving you a sorry heart. Sometimes the moment of anger lasts for just that, a moment...sometimes for days, but your conscience will be constantly working and softening your heart, telling you the hurtful downpour was wrong.

If you have a lukewarm, narrow heart, {which I find myself having most the time}, You will find yourself saying things that are a reflection of your heart...even if you were meaning it in a playful, joking way. Remember your heart will be revealed in all that you say. We all will have moments of anger, and when you fill your heart with words that do not further you and your walk with God, you will soon see angry hurtful words falling from your mouth… but you will not feel terrible for saying them, in fact, you may feel a little better. You may feel as if your just a little higher on the scale of ‘cool’ than those who you just downed. You may feel no regret, and justify it by thinking they deserved all that you said. 

That is not love.

That is not from God.

That is a hurtful, Painful rainstorm, ripping holes in others heart...and though you think it makes you feel better, let me assure you, it wont. You will begin to evaporate those words and your heart will continue to let out what you take in… Its a vicious cycle, really.

The words we say can effect others in a huge way, I'm sure you can flip the table, and remember a time or two words have effected you, negatively or positively. Imagine if this world got into a habit of lifting people up with beautiful downpours, instead of drowning people in hurtful ones? It gives whole new meaning to “Be careful little mouth what you say...”

Ephesians 4:29 is a beautiful reminder to us all, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”

If you find yourself raining hurtful words, or even joking words that you honestly meant no harm behind, there's really a simple way to help you change from a flood of hurt, to a flood of happiness. As cliché as it may seem, ask yourself, “Is this Kind? Is this Loving? Is this Gentle?” before you allow words to exit your mouth. 

This, dear friends is something my sister has taught me. Kind. Loving. Gentle..This applies to many things in life. But especially before you speak. Lets say your friend asks for advice about the outfit she is wearing, maybe shes a bit fashionably challenged. Don't get me wrong, honesty is VERY important, never loose sight of it, BUT, there is such things as discretion. Instead of teasing her about how terrible she looks, offer the Gentle thought… speak to her gently, not with crudeness. Believe me, many people will take to Gentle honesty better than Crude Honesty. And get this, when you ask yourself, “Is what I am about to say, Kind, Loving or Gentle?” You are slowly putting beautiful words in your heart that will eventually begin to reflect the way you relate and react to others. If you were to answer to your friend without thinking about what you were gonna say before you said it, it may come out harsh, and those words can rain down and plant themselves in peoples hearts, resulting in broken friendships and painful grudges.

  Now, it is also very important that you remember this. The words people say to you, take with a grain of salt… basically meaning, don't take every little rained word to heart. Just like we can say things without really meaning it, we can also hear things that people said, and take it to the ends of the earth with the wrong meaning. Sometimes, its just that, its a misunderstanding, and really the words didn't mean to come out like that. Sometimes, though, the hurtful words were said on purpose, which is where you need to look beneath the flood of words, and look at their heart. When we suffer from lose, pain, insecurity or even just having a rough day, we tend to lash out with very strong, stinging words. If you've ever had this happen to you, I recommenced not holding a grudge, and try letting go of all hard feelings… holding on to the painful words someone said to you will fill your heart with terrible words as well and start the vicious rain cycle of hurtfulness. A lot of the times we don't understand what people go through, and where they come from. Because we don't understand their heart, we don't understand why they strike out and say or do hurtful things. Remember your heart is a reflection…. What is put in, will come out. When someone rains hurtful words on your life, try to understand their heart, as hard as it may be… go to God with it, and remember to shower them with kind words. Never loose sight of your hearts reflection, and remember to always look beneath the flood.