The Word. The word? Which word? In Christian circles, the term “Word” is short for The Word of God, The Holy Bible, The Big Book. You know, as in “preach it from the Word!” In the class I teach at church, last week I was talking to kids about The Word. We were reading a famous verse that goes like this:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. -John 1:1 NIV.
Yeah, I know. It sounds weird. One of those jumbles of confusing phrases that make you want to skip ahead to the real story? Now hang on, this is NOT going to be a pithy theological journey.
The kids learned that the Word was another name for Jesus. Okay. So we’ve got the Word, the Bible and the Word, Jesus. Now that’s confusing… or is it? I explain the Word, the Bible, to kids as a book that shares who God is, how much He loves me, and what He wants for me and from me. The Word, Jesus? His time on earth was spent showing us who God is, how much he loves me, and what He wants for me and from me. Hmmm, coincidence? I don’t think so. What God expresses in text, he expressed live, in Jesus’ life!
I was talking to a coworker recently about this. You know, we each are the walking word! The word of something. It’s up to us to decide what word. We can be so expressive, not with the technical meaning of the sentences we spew, but with our specific word choices, the tone of those words, and all the body language that goes along with it. A seemingly innocuous sentence, delivered along with certain words, tone, body language, ends up being heard as, “You incredible bumbling idiot, you total dumbas…tronomical fool. Why can’t you do this right like me?”
Other great choices include not speaking at all, or saying something that, together with the tone and body, is heard as “Hey, here’s a cool way I found to do that. It makes the job easier for me.”
One communication results in pushback, alienation, resentment, defensiveness. The other causes openness, cooperation, support, team.
So what word are you today? What message will you share today, in the workplace, in church, at home? Whether you choose to look at this from a faith perspective or not, you will be a walking word today. Me? I pray that I will be the right word.