Submitted by rlp on Mon, 03/03/2008 - 17:23.
Strong, calloused men of action are common in Texas. Indeed, it’s rather our masculine ideal. There’s something even romantic about it. You know - the strong silent type, as they say. Like a character in a Cormac McCarthy novel. These are not men of words. They can be good men or bad men or any kind of man in between. But if you find a good one, his goodness takes on an almost mystical air because you won’t hear him talking about it.
The idea behind these heroic types seems to be that there is doing and there is talking. The former is for strong ones of action and integrity. The latter is for them that can’t do much and therefore need something to fill the time.
I’m strangely drawn to these strong, silent heroes in books and movies. I don’t know why exactly. Maybe it’s a man thing. But I will never be one of those men because - for better and for worse - I am a man of words.
Words have always come easily to me. I began to speak early. I sometimes didn’t understand what I was saying, but I enjoyed taking words and phrases out for a spin, just to see how they sounded. I was a big talker for a little boy.
I was and still am liable to slip into speech patterns that catch my ear. I pick up on the cadence and personality of accents and dialects. I have an appreciation for the way people talk and how their inflection carries meaning. I love words. I love the sound and feel of them. If I hear a good phrase or an interesting snippet of dialogue, I’m apt to say it out loud to myself while I’m driving. I’ll play with it. Try saying it different ways.
When I stand to speak in front of people, I’m not afraid. I’m enjoying myself. I don’t feel alone because my words are there with me. They’re always there for me. I don’t know where the the words come from. They just come out.
This is the truth: I rarely know what I’m going to write. Sometimes I finish an essay and it seems like I had a good thought and found a nice way to write it. The truth is, some phrase pops into my mind and starts nagging at me. I start writing and usually have no notion of where I’m going. I’m often as surprised as anyone at where it ends up.
So I’m a word man. There’s no denying it.
Listen to me now. This is important. It may not be important for you to hear, but it is a thing that I must say. I need to say it and hear it.
Words are dangerous. Using them is like dancing with the devil. Because when you can make pretty words, there is always a temptation to start thinking that saying something is as good as doing something. And if people give you all the credit up front because of your words, why bother doing anything at all? God knows people will allow it. If you can write or speak well, people will grant you almost anything.
Now here’s a thing I believe is true, but I have no evidence for it. My gut tells me it’s true. I intend to live as though it is true, whether it is or not.
If all you have are your words, you will always come to a bad end. Either you’ll start living a lie and get caught, or the wellspring of words you’ve always counted on will dry up and you’ll panic and start forcing them. Then something false will ring in your tone and people will shy away from you. People are smart about stuff like that.
So here’s a writing tip you won’t hear often. The better you are with words, the better you must be at living. If you are a writer or a talker, you better damn well be living or it’s going to catch up with you. If you love words as much as I do, you’ll have to make yourself get out and experience real life. You better engage people, have children, play games, laugh, whatever. Do it all. And if praying is your thing, you better pray hard. You better pray that your words do not get too far out in front of your life.
If they do, it’s over for you. Your oracle will die. The place where the words come from will close up and leave you choking on some crappy, compound sentence you’ve used ten times before.
Because there is doing and there is talking. If you can only manage one, let it be doing. Because it is the only one of the two that can honorably stand alone.
rlp
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amen, preacher. That's what
amen, preacher. That's what makes ministry so damn hard, isn't it?
My gut tells me you're
My gut tells me you're right. It's a subtle temptation, isn't it? I'm sure I've been guilty from time to time of talking a better game than I play. Thanks for a clear, timely warning and wake up call.
Good Timing
I was just thinking this afternoon about the effects of our "pretty words" on those who hear them but do not know our lives.
I'm still working on being
I'm still working on being able to do and experience things without spending the entire time thinking about what I'll write about them.
"If they do, it’s over for
"If they do, it’s over for you. Your oracle will die. The place where the words come from will close up and leave you choking on some crappy, compound sentence you’ve used ten times before."
Yes! And don't forget the dangling participles. And the missed periods. (I'd go on, but I'm a Christian woman)
It's the truth you write here for sure.
your words are what you are.
your words are what you are. your actions are who you arw.
your words are what you are.
your words are what you are. your actions are who you arw.
Your comment here, hughman,
Your comment here, hughman, and "Because there is doing and there is talking. If you can only manage one, let it be doing. Because it is the only one of the two that can honorably stand alone." are both things I should remind myself of every day.
Doer of deeds
I came across a fortune cookie the other day, and it says "Be both a speaker of words and a doer of deeds."
Now, how does this relate to what Gordon wrote? Well - upon seeing the title of this entry, it reminded me of the fortune.
I ended up taping the fortune to my monitor at work - because I realised that it's important as christians to not only "talk the talk" but also "walk the walk."
Gordon covered this with much more eloquence than me (he is, afterall, a word man - while I tend to be a do man) - but let's go out and be doers of deeds, not just speakers of words.
- d.
Limits of preaching?
I was recently at an ordination service for an Episcopalian priest (led by Gene Robinson, renowned for irrelevant reasons) and one of the points made in the charge to the new priest was to preach better than you are. If you limit your preaching to what you can manage to achieve yourself, then you are not aspiring to the heights of what God calls us to be. A priest should call us to be the best we can be through God's help, even if the priest falls short of that ambition themself. A sermon should challenge even the one giving the sermon.
I found this to be an interesting message and then noticed that it seemed like something of a contrast with what you wrote. I can see the sense of wanting to be the noble inspiration and avoid charges of hypocrisy for calling others to do what one cannot do one's self, but this is the type of thinking that leads to people expecting their pastors to be perfect, to perfectly model Jesus' life as an inspiration to their congregation. Unfortunately, the reality is that clergy are as human as the rest of us. Clearly we risk the log in the eye if an alcoholic pastor calls others to lead lives of temperance, but calling people, including one's self, to be better than we are is what a sermon is supposed to do, isn't it? At least, can't it be that?
What do you think, rlp? I'm not claiming this charge as an absolute and eternal truth, but I think it is worth thinking about, even at the risk of sometimes talking a talk that one cannot walk.
Peace,
JoKeR
JoKeR
"A sermon should challenge even the one giving the sermon." Good stuff! A church is a community endeavor after all. Thanks for your post.
Brenda
Adding another "AMEN"
I can remember when my word source was open 24/7. I suppose that means I am living in the past.
I do not know the exact moment it closed up on me but close up it did. I used to say it was because I stopped smoking cigarettes but today I'm not sure that was the cause. One thing I know for sure...I'm not going to start smoking again just to find out.
I know your words are true. As much as I hate to admit it...I have stopped "Living" and most of the time, I feel dead inside.
Having you point that out to me hasn't seemed to make it any better either. I already had enough guilt. Next thing you know, someone will start throwing dirt over me.
jeremiah's words
Peterson wrote in his intro to Jeremiah: "Some people write better than they live; others live better than they write. Jeremiah, writing or living, was the same Jeremiah."
I know this is important and i keep it in mind when i read others' writings and when i write, but i must say i truly admire people of integrity who can put other people's lives and thoughts into words for them. it's comforting to me that you see the dangers in having this gift.
atticus
I hear what you're saying,
I hear what you're saying, rlp. I also believe that the words of word people can inspire and provoke the actions of action people.
When the actions of word people and the words of action people all get aimed in the same direction, then we're really having fun!
You writings are a blessing... thank you for sharing!
Man of Words
I married a man of words. Strong? Most definitely. Silent? Not so much. Oh, he's not tooting his own horn. No, he's too busy tooting everyone else's. He loves to brag--about others.
I agree that living and wording (to bring in both writing and speaking) go hand and hand.
But words are also beautiful. God created the world with words. Jesus sometimes healed with words. Heck, Jesus is the Word.
I'm noticing that in each of these cases, the words are beautiful because of what they do. Huh.
Just like my favorite poet says
I wish I had my volume of Rilke handy.
He describes how if you want to write, you must first LIVE, gain experience, then forget the experience and let it seep into you until it's a fundamental part of your being, and then, only then, may a few decent lines of poetry come forth.
The passage
Found it on the web:
"Alas, those verses one writes in youth aren’t much. One should wait and gather sweetness and light all his life, a long one if possible, and then maybe at the end he might write ten good lines. For poetry isn’t, as people imagine, merely feelings (these come soon enough); it is experiences. To write one line, a man ought to see many cities, people, and things; he must learn to know animals and the way of birds in the air, and how little flowers Open in the morning. One must be able to think back the way to unknown places … and to partings long foreseen, to days of childhood … and to parents … to days on the sea … to nights of travel… and one must have memories of many nights of love, no two alike … and the screams of women in childbed … one must have sat by the dying, one must have sat by the dead in a room with open windows…. But it is not enough to have memories. One must be able to forget them and have vast patience until they come again … and when they become blood within us, and glances and gestures … then first it can happen that in a rare hour the first word of a verse may arise and come forth…
Rainer Maria Rilke, from The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge<
wow
Wow. Thanks RLP.
Kindred Spirit
Yes. And just thank you.
Hey! Thanks for a nice post,
Hey! Thanks for a nice post, I like your style:D I've bookmarked this page, so if others are interested here is the location of bookmark http://www.searchallinone.com/Other/XMPP_DevCon_day_1_-_ProcessOne-2/
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