“May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O LORD, my refuge and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 (GNT)
Words
By looking at this picture you may think our middle grandson is the strong, silent type. You would be wrong. This sword carrying soul is a young man of many words! Listening to him tell you something is a journey with many twists and turns. There are detours and switchbacks. Sentence upon sentence link together like cars on a long, slow moving train. Don’t get me wrong, I will happily sit and enjoy listening to him for as long as he wants me to, the thing is though, what he originally begins to tell me can sometimes get off track in the midst of all those words.
I don’t know about you, but my grandson isn’t alone. Especially when I’m nervous, I can find myself talking much more than is really necessary too AND, my purpose can wind up being lost. Think about it; sometimes fewer words can have a greater impact:
Stop! Help! Wrong Way. Ouch! I love you.
See what I mean? It doesn’t always take a long succession of thoughts to make our point.
If you’re like me, there are times we can let being short on words keep us from saying anything at all. We believe that we must have all the right things to say and a lot to contribute before we can initiate or join a conversation. I find this especially true when in the presence of someone grieving, asked to pray aloud (sometimes even silently), or if offered the opportunity to witness to others. For some reason we can think that quantity is most important. But, like my knight in plastic armor, what we intend to say can also get easily derailed in all our own extra words.
I’m speaking to myself as I type this tonight; we can’t let fear of saying the wrong thing, not being sure of what to say, or having enough to say, keep us from comforting, uplifting, praying for, and especially witnessing to those around us. Maybe we need this reminder too. The WORD teaches us powerful things in few words too:.
“Jesus wept.” “Love never fails.” “It is finished.” “You are forgiven.” “Be still and know.
And you know? As I ponder this a little more, It’s occurred to me that some of those who’ve influenced my life the most, actually did so with……….no words at all.
“My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action.” 1 John 3:18 (GNT)
Loved “sometimes fewer words can have a greater impact:”
P.S. Your grandson looks adorable.
Thank you Sandra! He is a cutie patootie if I may say so myself! I truly appreciate you taking your time to stop in and comment. God bless!