“Words direct our steps. ‘Your word is a lamp before my feet; a light before my path’ (Ps 119:105)”  @ http://ancienthebrewpoetry.typepad.com/

“They make books about everything.”

An astute observation from a pint-sized shopper in a local book store took the words right out of my mouth. This place used to be a frequent haunt for me, a writer who loves the smell of coffee and a cocoon of books.

But lately, the over abundance of books, many of which are devoid of any real value to readers, has me questioning my own profession. Why write, I find myself wondering. There are too many words already in print, too much of too little – and not only in print, but spoken, as well.

During my last trip to the bookseller I was so distracted by the number of noisy conversations taking place, and the yelling back and forth from customer to customer, parent to child, teen to teen, not to mention the cell phone chatter,  that I just wanted to scream out: “Stop talking! Just for one minute, stop talking!”

Ok, so I was a woman on the edge. I calmed myself, and the mocha coffee didn’t hurt, but it didn’t change the reality that words, so charged with meaning and power, have become a throw-away commodity in our culture.

Scripture teaches, “The heart of the wise instructs his mouth,” and, you would hope, his pen.

But it seems to me that too many people have tossed away the wisdom of sacred scriptures for the faux wisdom of motivational platitudes that, as an adulteration of the power of words, have made wall art a billion dollar business.

With overuse, and a lack of thought, our words can easily become trite, meaningless, shallow, deceptive and dishonest, devoid of, and even contrary to, the true purpose and intention of the human soul. 

Perhaps we have forgotten that all of life issued forth from the mouth of God, who created all things with words – God said: Let there be light, and there was light – and God saw that it was good. … And God said: Let us make man in our image … and God created man in His own image … male and female created he them … And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good.

And since then, havoc has reigned because we fail to understand that, made in the image of God, we, too, create; we become our words, and when our words are lies, or half-truths, or tools of disrespect, anger or mistrust, we distort the image of God – not only within ourselves but for others to whom we are witnesses for God – and destroy the plan for divine creativity God has implanted in our souls.

Our words, like our actions, are choices. With the power of speech and the power of words we have the ability to bless and to curse. We need to begin each day asking ourselves, What will I create in this new moment? Would God look at it and see that it was good?

My mother used to advise me against talking just for the sake of talking, and she would tell me, “If you have nothing good to say, don’t say anything at all.” She was a wise woman, whose advice, if taken, could create pockets of blessed silence.

Mary Morrell is the managing editor of The Monitor.