The Written Word

In my Church there is a brief inspirational broadcast every Sunday morning from Church headquarters in Salt Lake City.  It is called “The Spoken Word,” and has aired to millions of people worldwide for many years.  As good as it is, it does not compare in lasting personal influence to the potential impact of the written word whether religious or secular.

 

Consider a well-known case in point:  U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in his memorial address to the fallen Civil War soldiers at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania said “the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,” and it could have been the case. But fortunately someone saved his written notes and preserved for the world one of the most powerful, revered, and valued inspirational messages ever delivered.

 

My point is that just as something as powerful as the Gettysburg Address was preserved for millions of readers not alive in 1863, there are other written essays, letters, books and communiques that have also been preserved and had profound personal impact upon their readers.

 A written personal letter or poem or even just a note, especially if handwritten may be viewed as particularly precious and treasured some day by someone who needed it. 

 

Yes, the spoken word can be a temporary comfort or provide inspiration or direction, indeed “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (Proverbs 25:11) but a telephone call, text message, Skype conversation or even an email message—unless saved and printed—cannot be reviewed and pondered and savored because it is said and then gone.  In addition to the permanence provided by the written word, the deliberate pace of writing allows the writer to express what he or she really feels so both the writer and the reader are benefitted. 

If you have something important to say write it down and keep a copy for yourself whether a contract, a love letter, a record of something important you witnessed or did or thought or discovered—something you don’t want to forget or something you want to pass along.  Who knows who it will help some day?

My advice?  If you really want to “reach out and touch someone,” reach for paper and pen and not the phone.