Brave

Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out. Colossians 4:6  Message Bible

Writing is a form of cowardice for me. I put my words on paper (or a blog) at home by myself, sheltered from human contact. If I had to stand up in front of people and verbalize what I write, I probably wouldn’t say much at all.

This past week I had several in-depth conversations with themes that ranged from concerning to maddening to intense to encouraging. In each one I had the thought…”What do I say?” In one such conversation with a friend with whom I shared a similar experience, I stated that just by virtue of speaking up (her) instead of staying silent (me) she handled things in a much better way.

I agonize over my words to the point of obsession.

This is no problem to Jesus, who literally is The Word. He loves speaking and communicating. He is never at a loss of what to say.

He is waiting for us to speak up, to open our mouths, “to let the words fall out.” I believe He especially waits for us to speak up with those chance encounters we have every day, with people we know either very little or not at all. I would liken this kind of exchange to riding a roller coaster or handling tarantulas, which I refuse to do for fear of my life.

Recently however I have on occasion stepped on my fear on the way to bless some stranger with my words. And, though my stomach flip-flops, I have survived each time. Sometimes I say the first sentence and wait for the Holy Spirit to fill in the rest of the conversation. Those first words are the hardest for me; I choke on them too often. The sweet thing is that once words of blessing are out, they take on a life of their own.

In the words of the prophet Sara Bareilles, Jesus would say “Church, I wanna see you be brave!”

BTW…the dancers in this video were placed in locations sans music where the cameras were hidden (aside from the passers-by with smart phones) from the bemused onlookers. Very brave!