What are words? Words allow us to express our joy and our pain and they give us a medium in which we can praise. With words we sort through all of the ideas and messages floating in our heads and get down to the truth. They allow us an opportunity to shape or discern the features of what is happening and how we're feeling about it. Words, vessels for feelings and experiences, help you admit things. A relationship with words begins with writing, no matter the content or quality. Natalie Goldberg says, "Writers live twice." Writing provides a clearing process, a space to tell stories (true and imagined), communicate feelings, voice worries, process experiences, work through challenges, and dream big dreams. Writing can also be a tool for spiritual exploration and vocational discernment. When thoughts and feelings about spirituality, faith, God, and belief systems seem difficult to express orally, they may flow easier when pen is put to paper. Writing can lead to a new sense of clarity, insight, and healing. The words of prayer (those we read or create ourselves) and the
words of other sacred texts can change our lives in an instant.
Language wrapped around inspiration by another soul may come as
a welcome relief or fitting challenge. And, the writing of our own
poetry or prayer may free us from having to fill in all the details
or stick to a sentence structure. Of course, there will always be
the "unnamable" - that which cannot be spoke about easily
- powerful experiences of love, of nature, and of spirit. The words
of poetry and prayer do not try to express a vision of the whole
world; they present an angle by which you can see, feel, hear and
touch a corner of reality.
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