The Power of the Written Word (day 5)

I have a deep, lifelong love of books.  As soon as I learned to read, I would sound out words and read everything in sight - books, signs, items on the grocery store shelves, billboards, anything!  It drove my poor Mama crazy and to this day there are certain words my family teases me about, recalling my mispronunciation of them as a child learning to read.

My love of reading naturally evolved into a love of writing as well.  Not only did I love to be swept away to the English countryside, a South American jungle, the wild West or the faraway Orient, I loved the richness of the language and the uniqueness of the dialects and vocabulary of each place the books would take me.  I wrestled with the rough Irish brogues and their halting, brash, half-spoken words as I read "Angela's Ashes".  I was swept away by the elegance and finery of the Victorian tongues in "Sense and Sensibility".  The poetic grace of Shakespeare's Juliet was a sharp contrast to the cold, uncaring Scrooge created by Dickens.  I was fascinated that words could transform into anything you wished, as long as you carefully chose them.

Throughout history, the power of the written word has changed the course of mankind.  Martin Luther forever changed Christianity and the church when he nailed "The Ninety-Five Theses" to the door of Castle Church and started the Protestant Reformation.  Thomas Paine rallied the colonists together in the cause of independence from the British throne with his pamphlet "Common Sense".  And nothing has done more to shape the face of history and the hearts of mankind than the inspired words of God given to us in the Bible.

Words have the power to convict a heart, inspire a soul and transform a mind.  With the stroke of a pen, a nation is formed, a law is declared, an imprisoned man is pardoned.  Only words can both cause deep pain and give great healing.

At the end of my time on this earth, the power of the written word will once again reveal itself for my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and this declares me righteous to a holy judge. Thanks be to God that my eternity is sealed in heaven because He has written my name!

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Hebrews 8:10