The Words Left Unspoken...

   This morning in church, one of our resident pastors, Daniel talked about the pain our tongues can inflict on others.  (For the record.... I LOVE LOVE my church.  We are a come as you are, love you through your junk church.  And goodness knows we all have junk.)  He talked about how the tongue can do great damage, whether it be in our language, or the things we say to one another.  Which made me think... (I know, I know... oh boy...).

   He is no doubt correct.  The things we say can cause people great pain.  I have been on both the giving and receiving end of this.  Rest assured, they both stink.  However, I began to think that sometimes, it's the things we leave unspoken that can cause pain too. 

   Sometimes when people say nothing, it can cause someone to wonder what they did wrong.  Especially when they let that person know how they feel about it and the person continues to remain silent.  We can tell people that we feel certain ways, but unless we back it up, those words remain empty.  Silence is an action.  So the whole saying "actions speak louder than words" remains true.  Sometimes your silence can speak volumes.  And sometimes that silence causes hurt.  Because that means that person has made you feel like your feelings aren't important.  You're not important. 

   Several good relationships (of any kind) are lost because of silence.  Or because of the painful things we say to each other.  It's scary to tell people how we feel.  What if it makes them angry?  What if they yell at us?  What if they don't care?  There comes a time during someone's silence where we may begin to realize that we simply are not important to that person.  At all.  And we never will be.  Then we have to ask ourselves if that person is worth fighting for, or if we need to simply walk away.  Personally, I'm a fighter.  I will fight for someone I care about until there is absolutely nothing left.  And then I will still be here if they ever decide to come back.  Yeah, simply walking away would be so much easier.  But in the end if we fight for it, what if it is worth it?  Without great risk, we will never know great passion.

   Maybe the risk is worth it.  Maybe it isn't.  There is only one way to find out.  Fight.  Rant over.