To speak or not to speak?

To my kindred… those who tend to speak rather than not *grin*…

You and I love words. We love how they sound in our heads, and we love even better how they sound when we bring them forth in speech to our friends. We believe in the power of words to inspire, to heal, to bring forth love and laughter… often we have felt that power in our lives and we are eager to share that power with others.

But there have been times when we had become a victim of words. And times too when we felt we had let words slip past our lips that should have remained unspoken. We may feel regret, but there remains a sense of dissonance between our faith in words and the instances in which we have been betrayed by words.

Fear not, my kindred, for we need not give up on words. It is not words that betray us, but we that betray words when we fail to understand and respect the source of their power – silence. Idle words carelessly spoken are like words without roots. They are akin to tiny shards of glass that are carried by the wind… inconsequential at first, but potentially deadly if encountered. We need to learn how to speak words that are rooted in silence and restfulness, for those are the words that bring peace, that heal, and that call forth joy.

Those that trust words tend to distrust silence, just as those who trust silence often distrust words. But the simple truth is that there are times when words must be called forth to inspire, and there are times when our silence ministers most deeply. Silence and words give each other being and ought never be used without the other.

Some people have a natural preference for silence. Others, like you my kindred, and I, have an innate affinity for words. Neither have a learning advantage over the other, for ultimately, we need to strive towards mastery of both.

True silence is silence that comes from the heart. The truest words are words that come from the depth of a silent and compassionate heart. Here’s to being a student of both loving silence and honest words!