The concept of human speech has been on my mind lately. First of all, you run into all the nuances of it when you attempt to teach a very vivacious little boy spelling and reading. "But why is the e silent here but not here and why does y sound like i in fly but it sounds like e in baby?" It's amazing we ever even establish any sort of verbal communication, much less become proficient readers and spellers. This is a picture of where a precious group of women meet each week to share the words that Christ is teaching them. A few weeks ago we discussed a passage of scripture, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." The NIV says "spur one another on." (Hebrews 10:23-24) My dear friend Debbie, who has a horse ranch to encourage kids and their walk with the Lord, talked about the idea of "spurs." She said that when done properly a spur is a gentle yet effective and intimate way to move the horse forward towards the proper destination. It's an extension of an established relationship for specific and purposeful communication. When you stop to think about it, we are surrounded by words every day-a prolific amount of verbal communication. We also communicate a vast amount of words every day (some more than others). To use the phrase echoing from my study of Hebrews, do those words spur one another on to the consideration of Christ? Do the words I speak and the words I hear benefit the pursuit of Christ or hinder it? I could name a few conversations I've had within the last week where my Spirit has just felt slain when I walked away. Where my own negativity or that of others has absolutely distracted me from rejoicing in the Lord always. I have a tendency to be cynical and pessimistic; the darker the humor the chances are higher for me to laugh out loud. But this is so destructive to my pursuit of knowing, loving and living for my Savior. I can also think of many more communications where my spirit has been uplifted, encouraged, spurred on in the joy of being a redeemed child of God. A simple facebook message letting me know my written words were an encouragement. Text conversations where my sisters in Christ share prayer concerns and give testimony to our living Savior from the seemingly mundane details of our daily lives. Actual conversations around the dinner table or right before bed. A spur-of-the-moment lunch with a dear friend who offered the encouragement of how her own words gave her spirit peace just last night. She is a busy mommy of six little ones and the power outage occurred in that one hour time-span when the kids have all been tucked neatly in bed and she is able to sit for a moment and think in complete sentences. That hour of solace literally became complete silence and darkness (The kids had all hi-jacked any sort of light device early on when electricity was bountiful). At first she felt anxiety and bit of frustration, but then she decided to look through her grateful pictures on her phone (that was the only working device at the moment). She said when she flipped through and saw such simple yet beautiful words such as "baby smiles" and "sippy cups" her heart just filled with peace. Simply looking at the words and images she had captured in moments of gratitude were medicine to her soul. God gave us an incredible gift of communication; the question is are all my words, in every form, bringing Him honor and glory by reflecting the true beauty of being redeemed. May I fill my mind with scripture, prayer, songs, and words so that the words that flow out point all that the Lord sets in my path to the glorious pursuit of Christ and Christ alone!
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