Words

Words worth saying…words worth withholding…. It has been long since I have spoken words of any sort. I’ve held them as I pondered which type of words these are.

Words have power. Words are what fuel our human interaction, which in turn fuels change, progress, growth…or the opposite. A well spoken word can literally bring new life. A poorly spoken word can also cause destruction.

Which words am I speaking? By speaking these words, am I bringing good into being?

Our world is full of words. We toss them about like confetti. Often without thought or reflection, but simply because we have them with us. Or maybe it’d be more accurate to say we launch them out like fireworks. Sometimes in stunning displays of beauty and awe, but sometimes as unwanted noise and hurtful explosions. Sometimes our words are trivial and quickly forgotten, other times they erupt in shockwaves which disrupt the world around us.

Yet words that are unspoken are meaningless nothings. I’ve sat in futility for many years, mulling words over and over in my head, but with nowhere to send them. No one to impact with them. No life breathed into them.

What purpose do these words carry? In sharing them will you experience growth? In sharing them will you experience a richer existence? Or are they just a part of the noise you are forced to filter through day after day?

Would that I could speak only words of life, of love, of hope, of peace! Yet my words are dangerous. Truly the tongue is one of the most powerful forces in the world, for I can tear you down—and likely do so more easily than I can build you up. And, if you have seen and heard all the words that I have heard, you have likely been torn down enough; I would spare you more pain.

Thus the sages of our world, I suppose, who speak only rarely and in mystical language. For they have learned the power of their words and seen the way it can impact a human soul. Yet that is not me.

I still must learn which words to speak, and how to do so.

Thus, I speak, but ask forgiveness for the words spoken poorly. Perhaps even in those words, good can come if grace and compassion receive it.

In the beginning was the Word, it’s been said. What sort of beginning do these words represent? Time will tell.