Words with a Jolt

April 11

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. Abraham Lincoln

The wisdom of the wise emanates ultimately from the only One who is wise. We credit Abe Lincoln with being one of our most profoundly gifted presidents. Indeed, this frontiersman could not have attained the height to which he ascended apart from the innate intellectual prowess the Lord gave to him and the hand of God upon him. Wise and astute, Lincoln recognized the power of a well-controlled tongue.

Lincoln, a consummate politician knew the power of words to uplift, to inflame, to counsel, to guide, to capture the minds and hearts of his constituents. Who can think of his Gettysburg Address without realizing his compelling prowess with words.

One rich evidence of a man's skill at the craft of building ideas with words is his knowledge of when he has said enough. Going back to the setting of the Gettysburg Address, we are mindful of the purpose of the gathering—to honor the fallen who were buried there, and how Lincoln's audience had barely settled in from hearing the two hour dissertation of the previous speaker until the President had stood, given his remarks, and returned to his seat! And the words he spoke are considered to be among the most profound ever spoken by man.

Perhaps Abe took his cue from the Bible, the one Book of books that he cherished the entirety of his lifetime, for it reminds us to, "Let your words be few," Ecclesiastes 5:2. The Word has also given us the wondrous example of Mary, the young girl who would become the mother of Jesus. Perhaps Lincoln thought of her when he spoke, for of her the Bible tells us, "She kept these things and pondered them in her heart," Luke 2:19.

When the angel Gabriel proposed God's plan that she should be the one to bear the Messiah, she did not take counsel with her mother or her priest or her fiancé. She kept the words she had received in her heart, knowing that the One who spoke to her would let His light reveal those words in His perfect time.

Lincoln, too, knew that when the fullness of time had passed, when his words had been digested, they would have his desired impact upon not only those who heard them, but upon all who would read them in the newspapers of his day and in the annals of history. Indeed, both Mary and Lincoln were correct. The words that were spoken to her and the words that were spoken by him have had great impact through the pages of time.

We, as they, must weigh our words and measure them out sparingly, assuring that the words we serve to those around us achieve our intended purpose. May the Holy Spirit help us each day, each moment, to ration our speech, to control the extent of what we feel in our hearts that we share by our words. May we have the assurance that when we are to speak, HE will give us the words to say (John 14:16).

May we, like Lincoln, give our audience enough to jolt them like a bolt of lightening when they reflect upon the words we've spoken; may we, like Mary the mother of our Lord, ponder the most profound of words quite carefully in our hearts--knowing the Holy Spirit will bring them into the light in God's perfect time.