The Power of Words

Words can be pretty powerful. When spoken in anger, they can cause irreparable damage. When strung together eloquently, they can whisk you away to places far, far away and help you to escape the burdens of everyday life. Certain phrases can change your life forever..."I love you," "will you marry me," or whatever words someone uses to tell you that a loved one has died.

But even with all the power that words can have, quite often, they are not powerful enough. "I'm sorry" is sometimes not powerful enough to heal the injury following words spewed forth in anger. It's also not enough to help comfort someone who is grieving. Right now, there are a lot of people in my life who are grieving, for a variety of reasons. And I want so badly to be able to put the right words together to make things better for them, to help them heal. But words, no matter how perfectly chosen, don't have enough power for that, or at least I haven't been able to figure out how to make them that powerful.

There is always the old saying that actions speak louder than words, but still, perfectly chosen words combined with actions still will fall miserably short. I know that it can show the people in my life who are grieving that I care about them, and that I am here for them, but it won't make their pain go away.

I guess that really, that only leaves one other thing that I can do...turn to the One who is powerful enough to heal and comfort the grieving. So, for those of you in my life who are hurting right now, please know that I will pray for you. I will pray for comfort and healing and shelter and peace...