What Are Words Good For?

Everyday I speak to people. I open my mouth and form words. Words that I hope have purpose and some meaning. I manage people at work while trying to find the proper balance of words to show grace and authority at the same time. When I am out to eat, I always try to say "thank you" and make my waiter feel like a human being instead of a robot. On a normal day, I feel that I have used my words well... Not great, but not as big of a jerk as I have been in the past.

Every time I start putting a lot of weight on the words I use, I find myself in a situation where my words have about as much use as snow tires in Texas. This past year I held my brother as he wept after his father-in-law passed away. I grew up this the man crying in front of me, and there was nothing I could say to help the pain go away. I felt so small as my brother fell to pieces in spite of my words. And this weekend I was reminded how small I felt that night as I sat in the hospital with my father as my step-mother lay in bed with medications being pumped into her through tubes. The three of us sat in the room laughing as best we could, but there was always nervousness in the air because nurses had to come in and give her shots and check the monitors for whatever information they where looking for.

As I drove away from the hospital last night, I felt no sense of accomplishment or gratification because of the words I spoke. She was still sick, and the doctors didn't know for sure what was wrong. It blew my mind that even after me spending five hours in her hospital room filling the air with my words, she was still sick. If my words made no impact, should I even say anything? If my words had no weight on the world around me, then what was my worth? As those thoughts rattled around my head, I remembered my father walking me out to my truck as I left the hospital. He thanked me for spending time with them. He told me that it meant a lot to them that I was there.

There are no magical words that someone can posses to fix everyone's problems. And sometime the more we try to find the right words, the more we end up putting our foot in our mouths. There is more power in being invested in peoples lives, than saying the right thing at the right time. Jesus taught us that he would give us the words to speak on his behalf. That give me comfort and boldness to speak my heart, and to constantly be involved in peoples lives. But I still must be honest, I want my words to have the power to change situations, and heal hurting people... And this blog is proof that I still think my words have such weight (how silly of me!).