Reflection
One area where we probably often have the chance to be aware of our duplicity is in our speech. We talk so much. How much of what we say do we mean? How much of what we mean do we say? How much does what we say really mean? Suppose one undertook the discipline, well known in monastic tradition, of speaking only what one knew was given to one to speak? How quiet our homes, our dining rooms, even our churches and places of worship would be. Our society plays very loose with words, with talk; but there is little silence, and silence is where meaning comes from.
Elaine M. Prevallet
Prayer
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105
Action
It is difficult to sort out reality in the profusion of words we are bombarded with daily. Truth is obscured and unreality is promoted. How can you discern fact from fiction? How can your own words be rooted in truth as you perceive it? How can you speak from your own depth with integrity?
Suggested Reading
Be still, and know that I am God.
Psalm 46:10
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:17
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
James 1:22
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
Mother Teresa
Truth never damages a cause that is just.
Mahatma Gandhi
Speech has power. Words do not fade. What starts out as a sound, ends in a deed.
Abraham Joshua Hersche
Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth.
William Faulkner
Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.
Spencer Johnson
Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving.
James E. Faust
Be mindful when it comes to your words. A string of some that don’t mean much to you, may stick with someone else for a lifetime.
Rachel Wolchin
Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate, and to humble.
Yehuda Berg
Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall.
Jodi Picoult
Only the one who can bear silence will hear the voice of God.
Anonymous