Speak My Language This Instant!

I am an emotional being. While others’ feathers barely get ruffled, my world is rocked (just watch me when my favorite item is out at the grocery store). For better or for worse, this is my reality.

And as wordie (like a foodie but with words), I have long taken comfort in reading and writing. Language gives voice to my inner world. However, the written word often comes up short. It can’t always go to all the nooks and crannies that my insides experience. But I have discovered three worlds that can. They are music, color, and nature. Let’s explore …

Music

It’s rich and full, dramatic and captivating. I don’t care what genre you’re listening to, when you’re into it, it’s as though another dimension is added to your three-dimensional world. Where words fail, notes succeed. Life expands and we come alive.

On one hand, music has the power to change those deep crevices of feeling within us, to move us from downtrodden and heavy laden to – in the least – feeling understood. On the other hand, music can be quite the gentleman, never forcing or prodding, simply reflecting our complex inner state with utmost precision.

Color

Palettes range from shy and muted to bold and glaring. Sometimes we overlook color; other times we cannot hide from it. Color may draw us in, or it may push us away. Like music, where words fail to express our inner state, color merely has to show up and it says it all.

On one hand, color has the ability to change our outlook – we get a lift when we see our favorite shade. On the other hand, color can be quite the gentleman, never forcing or prodding, simply reflecting our complex inner state with utmost precision.

Nature

Ocean waves, mountain tops, jungle trees. Gentle streams and roaring waterfalls. Whispering leaves and crashes of thunder. Soft brilliant flowers and jagged dark rocks. Whatever form it takes, nature need only be and it is magnificent. Nature may haunt, nature may soothe.

On one hand, nature influences our mood, often flooding us with awe or peace that can reframe everything. On the other hand, nature can be quite the gentleman, never forcing or prodding, simply reflecting our complex inner state with utmost precision.

I don’t pretend to know much about these three. What little I understand of them has come to me as a layman, a sojourner in life equipped with five senses and a sensitive spirit. I just know that each has the power to either change my emotions, or to accurately reflect them so that I truly feel understood. Yet they are not God. They are merely part of His awesome creation, inanimate tools He gives us to resonate with our very core.

Do you ever feel alone in this world, like you’re the only one who feels a certain way? Do you ever get frustrated at the English language’s two-dimensionality, its inability to capture your inner state? Do you ever want to snip open the tightly sealed plastic bag of your emotions, and liberate them into the great wide open where they can find a home?

Behold God’s gifts of music, color and nature … companions that speak the language of our souls.

“Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” Psalm 42:7

"When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul."
- "It Is Well with My Soul" lyricist Horatio Spafford