Just words on a screen, yet they were so much more.
I read then, over and over again. Making effort to fully understand exactly what was being communicated. Hearing those words said through my mind’s re-creating of the writer’s voice. After reading them, I would turn from the screen, shake my head in amazement.
I love words. Direct words, spoken sincerely. I grew up in a home that was a combination of direct talk and stone silence. Much of the time, the direct talk was probably too direct, for it was often not always delivered with the needed amount of vulnerability.
Vulnerability of the speaker (writer) makes words come alive, giving them the power to infect the listener (reader), making them their own. To read words written directly, sincerely and with vulnerability is to feel as though the writer knows who you are, what you need to hear.
This particular day, I had awakened to a message from a student. A farewell and thank-you you message, from one who now graduates on to the rest of their life. The words were shocking … for they were kind, generous and vulnerable. The words were live-giving … for they indicated an awareness of efforts made, acknowledgement of contribution, of care.
Those words on a screen filled my cup.
They eased the struggle of adjusting to online schooling. Erased the moments of frustration, anxiety and concern. They overrode the events of discouragement, dismay. They patched and mended the times when it seemed efforts were in vane.
Those words, shared voluntarily, spoke volumes into my heart … they will be the fuel for the year to come …
but they will also be my final, positive and vulnerable communication from a young man who simply dared to share them.
We all have such words within us … words others need to hear, whose souls would be lifted higher and for longer than it would take for us to share them.
“Words satisfy the soul as food satisfies the stomach;
the right words on a person’s lips bring satisfaction.”
Proverbs 18:20
itsawonderfilledlife 