I was speaking with a good friend of mine recently, a man who has thought a lot about faith and action. He spoke about how, in this culture, we place a lot of emphasis on “the word.” We celebrate speakers and are inspired by words and talk, but, in his view, the real transformation happens when we combine word with deed and community.
I mulled this over. I am someone who thinks about words a lot. And I started to see a relationship between intention and this idea of combining word and deed.
When we speak from a place of intention, it is meaningful because it is linked to action. As listeners, we are moved because we feel like moving—we want to change something in our lives to match the action and motivation we feel from the person we heard speaking. We don’t respond just with our minds, we respond with our bodies. Our hearts may race, maybe we feel nervous energy in our feet or legs. We want to leap into action!
