What are words for?

Did you ever notice people use words to define themselves? For example, there are so many words I could use to describe me. Husband, father, Catholic, musician, cyclist, supervisor, blogger, son, brother. These are just the ones that come off the top of my head. Some people just throw around words as if they have little effect.

However, words have power. Words we use to describe ourselves can have powerful meanings. When I think of myself as a husband, there are some very powerful and personal emotions that surround that word as it relates to my wife. The same goes when I think of myself as father.

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a while, and oddly enough, our deacon’s homily in church this weekend was about words and their meanings. How some words have more than one meaning and how they change over time. I’ve always been struck by the power of words, especially when it comes to faith. There’s an old saying in the Catholic Church (designed I think to make people sing) that singing is praying twice. I never believed it. You can sing a song without thinking about what the words mean. We do that all the time. You like the music for a song and sing along with the words without really thinking about what the song means. But if you actually SPEAK the words, that can be a whole different thing.

I know it’s said that actions speak louder than words, but words can move someone to action. Again, they say the pen is mightier than the sword. Certainly words can hurt for a long time, or they can heal. Words can overwhelm us when they come at us non-stop, or we can be crushed by the lack of words when we need to hear them.

For a long time, music has been the soundtrack for my life. I can point to songs that embodied where I was at any point in my life. As a good example, Queen’s Spread Your Wings (lyrics here) was the song that got me through 3 years on USS Bainbridge when I just really hated being in the Navy. Now the song is more nostalgic than anything else. If I were to pick a Queen song now, it would be Bicycle Race. However, the song that probably best fits me know is one I wrote, Blessings (lyrics here). As with much of what I write, it has a personal component to it.

When you compare to where I’ve gone from Spread Your Wings to Blessings, I’m surprisingly content with my life right now. The most stressful thing I’ve got going on this week is trying to find some time to get riding in. We should all have that kind of worry.

So what words do you use to define yourself? What kind of power do they hold for you? Do they give you hope, or do they bring you down? Where these words given to you by others or picked yourself? I know I made a conscious decision when I was in middle school never to let anyone else define me, but be my own person. It resulted in me being a pretty odd kid (my wife might suggest that’s putting it mildly). But I’m pleased with the result so far.