Power

 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light…And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water… And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear… Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds…And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,  (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14) 

God said more, but the point is that when God speaks, things happen. While our language may be imprecise, God’s words have energy. They have power. They are effective. In a limited, lesser way when we speak, things happen. Our words have energy and power and are effective. People used to take pride in the idea that their word was their bond, and they said they’d do it, it kept their word. We still like other people to be that way.  We like to think maybe, if it were important enough, we would be that way.

God’s words aren’t the only example of the power of words. What people say to us and about us has power. Songs, even music can change us, charge us, or cripple us.  Our own words have power. Books have been written about power what we say about ourselves has on ourselves. This is what advertising is about. Therefore, when I say “Huck Finn” you have a different reaction from when I say, “1984,” “Hunger Games,” or “Handmaid’s Tale” (if you’ve read them, and maybe even if you haven’t.)

Again, as Professor Willard reminds us that the power of our words is limited. We can’t say, “Let there be coffee” and have coffee appear in our mug. But “Let there be coffee” starts the process that results in coffee in our mug. But all this goes back to yesterday’s blog. If words have power, if they have energy and are effective, we must be careful with them. If we aren’t, we could end up like Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer’s apprentice in Fantasia ((64) Fantasia Sorcerer's Apprentice - YouTube) (Which I’ve only just now watched all the way through.)

This power is why people get so irritated when others don’t understand what we want them to from what we say. If I focus on their using f-bombs four times in their 10 word sentence, that’s not the point! How dare I try to make that the point. That word has only the meaning that I give to it, so if it’s a bad meaning, it’s my fault – but heaven forbid I miss the meaning they wanted their words to have.

And another story comes to mind, about a different magician. He found a unicorn and offered to help her, but she didn’t believe he was really a magician. He was a side show actor in a fair, nothing more. That’s what we sometimes try to reduce God to – a fortune teller, an entertainer – and it is our words about God that limit who He is to us. He’s the God of the universe, but to us, He’s a petulant judge, or a slave, or a trained poodle, or a distant father, or nothing but a bit of universal weather or a ham and cheese sandwich eaten before bedtime.

I am a person of many, many, MANY words. Other people don’t use as many, but regardless of the number, we need to remember that they have power. And we will show ourselves to be fools if we don’t learn to use them wisely.