🍯 Words That Heal: The Honeycomb of Hope

Reflections on Proverbs 16:24

“Gracious words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” — Proverbs 16:24

💫 When Sweetness Feels Out of Reach

There are weeks when grace feels like something I’m giving away faster than I can refill it.
Times when I open my heart, offer kindness, and am met with coldness or confusion instead of warmth.

It’s in those moments that this verse whispers back to me:
Gracious words are a honeycomb.

Not every word will be returned with gratitude.
Not every gesture will be understood.
But God still calls us to keep our words sweet — not because others deserve them,
but because they heal us too.

When we speak life, we stay connected to our own hope.

🍯 The Nature of Honey

Honey doesn’t happen overnight.
It’s the result of thousands of small acts — one bee at a time, one drop at a time, drawn from wildflowers that survived wind and rain.

That’s how healing words work too.
They are built drop by drop through patience, humility, and time.
Even a single sentence of kindness can turn bitterness into light.

At Stronger Women®, we teach that hope is a skill — something you can learn, measure, and practice.
The same is true for grace.
We can learn to sweeten the air around us even when we’re walking through hard seasons.

🌿 When Words Leave Scars

In our healing classes, I often share The Little Boy and the Fence — a story I’ve taught since 2013 to illustrate how words can wound or mend.
The nails we hammer in anger can leave holes in the heart,
but gentle words — words of understanding, apology, and truth — become the honey that fills those places again.

We cannot erase every scar.
But we can decide what kind of mark we’ll leave next.

✝️ The Science of Hope Connection

In the Science of Hope, we talk about three elements that mirror this verse beautifully:
1️⃣ Goals — choosing to use words that heal, not harm.
2️⃣ Pathways — finding small, daily ways to speak encouragement.
3️⃣ Willpower — practicing grace even when it’s not returned.

Gracious words don’t make us weak.
They prove we are grounded — rooted in something deeper than reaction.

💕 A Hope Practice for Today

Take five minutes and whisper a blessing — for yourself and for someone who’s hard to love.
Write one kind sentence in your journal that you wish someone had spoken to you.
Then read it out loud.
Let that kindness echo in your own ears first.

Because words of grace don’t just travel outward — they circle back to strengthen the one who spoke them.

📖 Closing Reflection

Honey is slow.
So is healing.
But both endure.

So today, may your words carry sweetness where there has been sting,
and light where there has been loss.

May you remember that your mouth can be a vessel of hope —
and that when you speak with grace, you heal bones, including your own.

“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” — Proverbs 16:24

🔗 Links

🎵 40-Day Playlist on Apple Music
📘 Buy the Hope Journal on Amazon
🌐 Contact Stronger Women®

☎️ Crisis Resources

If you or someone you know is struggling:

• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233

• Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988

• National Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-888-373-7888

• National Elder Abuse Hotline: 1-800-677-1116

Dr Brooke Jones
Founder Stronger Women