We are bombarded by words on every side from more sources and devices than ever before. Those of us who write seem to have a special love of words and make a craft using them in one form or another. We use them to express ideas, thoughts, dreams, hopes, and more. But we all know words have many sides to them.

Words can comfort or words can wound. Words can woo or words can reject. Words can give blessing or words can bring cursing. Words can bring hope or words can bring despair. Words can propel us toward the future or keep us stuck in the past. Words can bring peace or words can bring war.

For some of us, words tumble out of our mouths easily about nearly anything and if someone is around us often, they know a lot about what is swirling around in our heads and hearts. Others of us find words difficult to craft to convey the thoughts and perspectives we may have been mulling over for some time. In such cases as these, it can be far too easy to make judgments about someone opposite from us about what they have said or not said.

But would you really have an accurate understanding of either type of person based on that point alone? What if I didn’t speak a word to you? What would my life say to you? Perhaps that is the more accurate evidence of what matters to me, what I believe, what I am passionate about, and gives you a window into the deepest parts of my heart, mind, and soul. For you see, it is those things that are harder to deny or keep hidden than what my words (your words) reveal about me (or you).

We have just passed a significant historical date in U.S. history on November 19. It was November 19, 1863, and Abraham Lincoln gave his memorable Gettysburg Address and left us with this thought to ponder as he stood looking over the battlefield of so much loss during the Civil War:

“the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion …”

Abraham Lincoln

These famous words of Lincoln point to what creates the legacy of our lives even though it is the words he uses that we often quote and recall. We recall his words but maybe it is because they depicted his life as a man who lived his words and used words to convey his deepest beliefs. Is my life like that? Is yours?

So often we are shouting what we say we believe in the open forum today but if someone saw us on another day would those beliefs be evident? That should be the case, should it not? Would not my life more than my words point to what is most important to me? Sometimes we cannot make the case we so desperately want to make for lack of this consistency, this evidence of integrity.

When I think of people who have touched my life in some way and are no longer here, I become aware I recall fewer of the things they said to me and more of who they were. I recall how they made me feel when I was with them and if I found myself wanting to be more like them. I recall a quiet gentle spirit or an infectious smile that brightened so many days. I recall how they helped me believe in something bigger and more important than myself as well as their confidence I could be more than I was.

These are the people who helped shape my faith. I saw beyond any of their words what sustained them during some of the hardest and darkest challenges they faced. What I had heard them say about their faith was being challenged on every side and yet it did not waver in those most difficult moments. They were then more like the Christ they believed in even as He showed that repeatedly in his life on the earth when He was tested in the wilderness, when he hung out with the least of these out of love, and when He accepted the thief on the cross who cried out to Him in his final hours.

Our lives are not masterpieces of perfection but that doesn’t mean they cannot speak volumes of transformation. That stands out in the lyrics by Michael O’Brien written from a man whose life does not show perfection (not unlike many of us). Here are just a few to consider reflecting on what your life says or doesn’t:

“They say that a picture paints thousands of words 
And actions speak volumes where love is concerned 
I could preach you a sermon, hoping you would agree 
But in my silence would you see God in me? 

I’m gonna give you no arguments 
To try to make you believe 
Just evidence of the changes in me 

If I said nothing 
What would it say to you? 
If I testified by living the proof 
If I couldn’t speak the words 
I pray the truth would be heard 
What would my life say to you 
If I said nothing at all? 

I look in the mirror and it tells me the truth 
But you see my reflection in the things that I do 
If I’m a believer, then I’ll live my beliefs 
If I am a Christian, then Christ should be seen 

I’m gonna give you no arguments 
To try and make you believe 
Just evidence of the changes in me, yeah 

If I said nothing 
What would it say to you 
If I testified by living the proof 
If I couldn’t speak the words 
I pray the truth would be heard 
What would my life say to you 
If I said nothing 

Every eye will see His glorious face 
Every ear will hear His voice on that day 
He is Lord of all and forever will be 
But I pray that today you’ll see Him living in me, yeah 

If I said nothing 
What would it say? 

If I said nothing 
What would it say to you 
If I testified by living the proof 
If I couldn’t speak the words 
I pray the truth would be heard 
What would my life say to you 

If I said nothing 
What would it say to you 
If I testified by living the proof 
If I couldn’t speak the words 
I’d pray the truth would be heard 
What would my life say to you 

What would it say 
By living the proof 
If I couldn’t speak the words 
I pray the truth would be heard 
What would my life say to you 
If I said nothing at all? “