Silence is Not So Golden

The past few days have been particularly troubling for me. I have struggled with laryngitis. This is not something that causes most people too much distress but I am not one of those. Nearly ten years ago I developed a vocal cord nodule from continual use of my voice when I had laryngitis. I learned the hard way that continuing to try to talk under those conditions is very harmful to your vocal cords. In my case, it required surgery to correct the problem and a three month period of very limited voice use. So, this week I saw an ENT to rule out any possibility of another nodule and the report was good for which I truly give thanks to the Lord. I am very grateful that my voice is improving. I did not really want to go but I had to find out what was wrong.

Being unable to speak reminds me that silence is not so golden. This is particularly true when it comes to sharing our faith with others. Francis of Assisi is attributed with saying, “Preach the gospel: if necessary use words.” Sounds good, right? Wrong. I suppose the intent behind the statement is that our lives should match our words or something like that but the statement just does not work out very well. J.D. Greer said that is like saying, “Tell me your phone number; if necessary use digits.” Sharing our faith requires words. The gospel has to have a medium of communication. Yet, tragically, in a day of unparalleled opportunity and urgent need too many of us seem to have a case of spiritual laryngitis. That should trouble us and motivate us to find out what’s wrong. Silence is not so golden. Think about it.