inspiring ourselves

i was thinking on my 0.6 mile walk back from the laundromat with my laundry about how we use our words. Don Miguel Ruiz, in his book The Four Agreements, says "be impeccable with your word." that's part of my definition of integrity. another teacher put it this way: "honor your word as your self."

i'm discussing this passage, James 3:2-8, with my youth groups this week:

1-2 Don't be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you'd have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.

3-5 A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!

5-6 It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

7-10 This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue—it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a crazy killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

our word is certainly part of our self, and one of the primary ways we commmunicate that self.
yesterday i had lunch with a friend who's preparing for a presentation on a very impotant topic to a huge group of people. the audience is a powerful group of folks, and he doesn't know very many of them. i wondered about what i would do in his shoes. i was struck by how, in our casual conversation, we both spoke with a "yeah yeah, i know all about it, it's all someone else's problem" attitude about life-and-death stuff.

i want to encourage myself and my friends to inspire ourselves with our speech. how do we find the right tone and syntax to communicate oppression and the call to work for justice, suffering and the "how" of hope?

i have two thoughts:

• one is how important it is, as i keep being reminded, to pay attention and be on our toes. if what you're saying doesn't seem to be getting acros: pause and evaluate, look for clues in the listener, and try a new tack.

• the other is that we speak with energy and heart behind our words. i was inspired in my study of voice by telling myself "i have a message for the king." so if i'm speaking about climate change or racism, even with my friends i'll practice paying attention and investing "i have a message for the king" energy in my words. then my voice itself will be a powerful ally. Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagan, historian and founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock says that no one should graduate from college without the ability to (and habit of) command the attention of a room with the power of your voice. Not necessarily volume, but breath/spirit/intention power.
  

we are the ones we've been waiting for.