Sometimes it feels like we are drowning in a sea of words.
It doesn’t matter which side of the Titanic you’re standing on, each side wants to blame the other, meanwhile the ship is going down, down in a spinning sea of words.
But these words didn’t set the ship off course. These words are the overflow of our hearts.
We have become arrogant in our course. We fight for control of the vessel, all-the-while we are building an iceberg with our cold, cutting words.
Words can build us up or tear us down. Words can produce fruit for generations to come or bring us to ruin in one sound-byte.
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer.”
These ancient words still ring true today as we see the lingering effects of callous and thoughtless words spoken, buried, deleted, and spun.
Before we allow our frustrations to spill into harsh words, we need to breathe, check our pulse, pause and remember that our words reveal the depths of our hearts. Words reveal the light and the darkness of our hearts, and our words last.
I make no excuses for myself or our leaders, but neither do I put my faith in myself or our leaders.
The ship is headed toward an iceberg. It may crash and sink. It doesn’t matter who the captain is, because my faith is not in the captain or the ship, but in the One who commands the wind and the waves, the One who calls us to impossible things, the One who walks on the water.
The One who called the religious leaders of the first century a brood of vipers and warned them that they would give account for every careless word they had spoken.
The One who said, “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
My prayer is that the One who calms the storm can call the storm in me, calm my heart, so the overflow will be words of grace, compassion, and understanding.
May the peace of Christ dwell in you, and may his peace spill into your words.