Real Words

Talk without content is merely empty words.  As I look, I see experts with “great” opinions, pretenders to meaningful music, artists with nothing to say, individuals trying to climb a virtual ladder by putting down those around them instead of simply hard work, and chefs who cook without bothering to taste their work.  I wonder if we, you and I, understand what it would be like to use real words.  What would the world be like if we filled every sound with meaning?  Imagine a world where your actions and mine told the story of our ideals.  Consider what the world would be like without boasting, trash talking, and gossip.
 
I long for a world filled with compassionate humor.  I hope to know more people that live for community instead of themselves.  I wish I, along with others, could live up to our created potential.
 
It all starts with simple honesty.  Imagine the beginning of every day where one responded to God challenge.  “Take the stand on behalf of your idols, offer arguments, assemble reasons.  Spread out the facts before us so that we can assess them ourselves.  Ask them, ‘If you are gods, explain what the past means—or, failing that, tell us what will happen in the future.  Can't do that?  How about doing something—anything!  Good or bad—whatever.  Can you hurt us or help us?  Do we need to be afraid?’”  (Isaiah 41.22, 23) 
 
It continues with the will to do something in the moment at hand.  I cannot fix the past, I can only learn from it.  I cannot change the future.  I can face it with Hope.  I live in the present, as do you.  What we do constitutes the real words of our lives.  Our decision now tells others what we believe.  Our choice in the present reflects the values and priorities we hold most dear.  Our actions say how we will engage.
 
Today is an opportunity to speak real words.  Sometimes I squander this freedom easily.  Today’s moments will be ones remembered for all the right reasons.