Voiceless

I lost my voice this week.

It seems about once a year I do.

Every time I lose my voice, I am reminded of how powerful speech is and how feeble I am.

Powerful Speech

With my voice I convince, empathize, urge, console, explain, defend, relate, connect, and so much more. Writing approaches these things. Writing allows for precision of words, but speaking does something writing never can. Speaking brings unwritable nuance. Tone, speed, volume, pause, pitch…these all happen at once when speaking, and they all contribute to the total message conveyed.

Feeble Me

When I lose my voice, I am reminded of how easily I can be taken out. Within a few hours of feeling the initial scratchiness, I can be speechless, a third of what I do as a pastor gobbled up by some microscopic germ. Voicelessness confronts any false perceptions I may carry about my own strength.

For these reasons, I reluctantly embrace voicelessness. It can be a gift if I let be.

Question: What little nuisance in your life might God be using redemptively…if you let Him?