My Voice...

I have had this blog set up for a while now. For some reason, whenever I get on to write my first post, I always get about halfway through and erase what I have written. I will be surprised if the words I am typing now actually make the cut and are published. After all, what do I have to say that the world wants to hear?

I think about this at school when I am teaching British Literature and U.S. History and see pretty clearly that my words aren't having all of the influence I would like for them to...

Or when I tell my kids 300 times to pick the same toy up out of the floor...

Or when giving advice to one of the Single's that Jonathan and I minister to and find out later that the advice wasn't taken...

Or when I tell Jonathan something and discover later that he completely missed it...

We all use a lot of words. Some are important, and some are less so. Sometimes people don't want to hear what we have to say, and sometimes our voices are drowned out by all of the other voices that are competeing for attention. But that doen't mean that our voice is unimportant, and it doesn't mean that we shouldn't use it!

This blog is an extension of my voice. The question is, do I have something important to say?

I think about John the Baptist...he was, if you remember, known as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness." He was, put simply, a Voice. The message he had to share was both powerful and important. It was the message of salvation, of the coming Christ, of hearts laid bare and ready. I think all who carry this same message feel like they are crying into the wind sometimes, their voice lost in the chaos of this life. But that Message is everything, and it must also be my message. If I speak anything, it should be to declare the risen Lord, the saving Lord, the sanctifying Lord, the coming Lord. It should be to urge those around me to prepare for his return. For the Christian, that's what life should be, right? The Bride preparing for her Bridegroom to return? And if this is true, then there are many other messages I must speak...

I must speak love and affirmation over my husband, words of encouragement, comfort, joy, and discipline over my children, words that echo the words that the Scriptures breathe into me.

I must use my voice as an advocate for the helpless, for those who cannot speak for themselves, a voice that vies for attention in a world where everyone is "looking out for number one."

I must be a voice that not only pleads for the cause of the poor, but also one that pleads with the comfortable, reminding others (and myself) that the only things in this world that last forever are people...making them the only things worth spending time on.

I must pour out praise to my Savior, using my voice as a gift to the one who loves me lavishly...

God gave me a voice. I may not always use it as I should. Others may not always like what I have to say. But I DO have something important to say...the message of Christ and His transformational work in our lives. A little at a time, I want to share with you my voice...