The Power of Words

Phil Yancey is one of my favourite authors. When I read his stuff, I am always given a ton of food for thought and I am always changed. A few years ago I was taking an English adult learning class. We were given an assignment one day to write a paragraph as a class (by a very bored, disdainful teacher who had little belief in his students). The first person was given the word, words; they wrote a sentence then passed it on and the next person built on the first student's thoughts. By the time it got to me I realized the class had as much belief in the positive value and power of words as the teacher had in us as pupils worthy of his instruction. Words, words, words. Empty, vain, repetitous, negative, used only to lash out, to bring hurt and pain. Each person had a valid point. They were writing out of personal experience and I didn't disagree; way too often written and spoken words fall into these categories and I have to be honest that I've been at both the giving and receiving end. But, since becoming a believer and follower of Christ and His teachings, I have experienced the power of words in a different way. I added my thought to the paragraph: but some words, sifted through nets of human hearts and minds, inspire, enlighten, inform, bring change, give hope, give life. (I loved the look of surprise on the teacher's face when he read our paragraph out loud, and the thoughtful "hmph" as he silently reread it to himself. I think our words challenged his view of us a tiny bit.)

I've read several of Yancey's books, and his words never fail to enlighten, inspire, bring change and give hope. Right now I'm savouring each page and paragraph of what I believe is Yancey's latest book entitled Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? I'm savouring because there are nuggets tucked in everywhere and I want to let them wash over me, I want to absorb them, I want to let them become a part of me and change me to be a better person. These words in the 19th chapter are a good example: "I gain peace when I realize that I do not have to talk God into caring. God cares more than I can imagine..." When I read these words I realized I have wasted more prayer effort trying to convince God to care than I want to think about. I have repented and I don't do it anymore. It's horribly insulting to God who, from the beginning of time, was devising a way to save us and defeat the curse of death hanging over us. It took nothing less than the sacrifice of His own Son to accomplish this. That's love.

Now, when I pray I just go directly to the heart of the matter because I have the peace of knowing He cares. I say, "God, I know You care about this way more than I can know..." and I tell Him what's on my mind. Lately I've been thinking about how backwards I was in my thinking. While I was trying to convince God to care, He was probably wondering what in the world it was going to take for me (and you) to care enough to do something about the things we pray about? Now, my prayers go more like this: "Help me to care like You already do, enough to do something about this."

I do pray more now because I'm convinced my prayers matter. They may even change God's mind on some things, but mostly, they change mine.

Living Thoughtfully

Hi, and welcome to my blog. I'm brand-new at this, but I decided to do it to try and capture some of those thoughts that enter my mind and linger around; the ones that refuse to leave before I give them careful consideration. I find that when I take the time to actually flesh them out enough to write them down they're usually important thoughts - important to thoughtful living, that is. I also create brain space to let new thoughts in, and they often tend to build on previous ones.

You see, I'm walking through life everyday trying to make sense of it all and trying to figure out how to make the most of this gift I've been given. In comparison to all of time and eternity, each individual life is but a tiny vapour, a mist. It's here, and then so quickly, it's gone. But I believe each life, no matter how long or short, influential or not, is significant to God. And I don't want to waste mine by living it carelessly. I want to live it purposefully, and I want to know that my walk is meaningful, that I'm doing what matters. My hope is that when I put my thoughts out there that you will connect and add yours to them. We'll both be gaining new perspectives and insights, and hopefully, be walking through each day knowing that today we did what matters.