“Sometimes we get to change a broken world with our words.”
Tom Hanks (as Mister Rogers) in “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood”
As a writer, I can’t think of a more inspiring quote than this one. Believing my words somehow matter and that they might affect positive change keeps me – and hundreds of thousands like me – toiling away at the keyboard, struggling to say something profound.
I don’t think this phenomenon is singular to writing though. We all want to make a difference, whether it’s in our own life, the lives of those we love, or the lives of people we’ve never even met. We have an innate need to improve upon the past and bring about a happier, more secure future. Some of us strive to do this through the written word, others through the arts, still others through professions in medicine, education, service, and more.
From where does this need for improvement – this need to fix what is “broken” – emanate?
Like many other struggles, I believe we can trace the origin all the way back to the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned, the complete, perfect fellowship they had enjoyed with God in His paradise-on-earth ended. A pure and holy God cannot coexist in the same space as sin, so humanity literally fell out of God’s good graces due to their own disobedience.
Thousands of years later, and we (the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve) still yearn for the restoration of that complete unity and peace with God and His creation. We strive within our own means to improve, to repair, to achieve perfection even; but we fail, for it is an impossible task in our damaged state, separated from complete communion with God.
Somewhere deep inside we remember the Garden of Eden and we long for it again … our Paradise Lost.
Christ’s sacrifice bridges that great divide and restores the promise of Heaven for all who believe in Him. And what is Heaven if not renewed rightness and complete fellowship with our Creator?
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time
those who are being sanctified.
hebrews 10:14
I love that the Mister Rogers quote at the beginning of the blog doesn’t say we can “fix” a broken world with our words. Words can’t do that. Even Jesus knew that words alone could not save us; He had to sacrifice His life. But words can make a difference. They can create positive change.
So share the good news – or let me put it this way, the good words – of Christ. Love others as you have been loved by the God of the Universe, and tell others about it. Speak words dripping with kindness and compassion, because we are all struggling to find our way through this defective world and the damage it does to us. At some point, we will all suffer a heart broken by someone or something in this life.
Thankfully for us, as Mister Rogers said, “The kingdom of God is for the broken hearted.” And we can bring a great portion of the Kingdom of God down to earth by living according to Jesus’ example…
…even through our words.
VERBOSELY His,
Expressively HIS ... 