ALL TALK

By: Ayana Bryant-Weekes

I would consider myself a pretty vocal person, meticulous in my word choice to avoid being misunderstood or misinterpreted. The way I am about verbally getting my message across organically, hinges upon carefully choosing what to say –Proverbs 18:21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. [NIV]

As a writer, words are my medium of choice and over time, my word has been a faithful collateral in the exchange of trust and respect. I conditioned myself to use weighted words that carried more value and deliberate meaning in them to emphasize sincerity with which came a certain confidence- I guess that’s good in some aspects. Time has also taught me that the validity of someone’s words depreciates when there are no actions to solidify them. I’ll be honest, for a long time…up until a few days before writing this post, my words were empty, grossly depreciated in value.  At least that’s how it felt when I prayed, begging and pleading with God to change certain things in my life, thinking I could talk Him into blessing me a certain way, saying all the right things to get what I wanted. I remember being angry and having the bald-headed nerve to be irritated with God when those things didn’t happen.

Yesterday was the 4th of July and though it ended up being the best one I’ve had in a VERY long time, it started out rocky. All day my mind was swirling about with the frustration of a stagnant situation- I was sick of writing the same journal entries, praying the same prayers and having the same pep talks with myself over and over again. In the midst of all those thoughts and doubts, God sent conviction to my spirit through two separate conversations I was having with two different people simultaneously. It was overwhelming but I realized, I was all talk and no action. I was always praying, journaling and pep-talking but never DOing what I said I would/needed to do thus, yielding no results. Immediately I felt my spirit reply to the conviction.

“I’m ready to do the work”

The second half of Proverbs 18:21 (the part I never paid attention to) talks about the consequences associated with people who love to “talk”. Proverbs 18:21 Life and death are in the power of the tongue; those who love to talk will reap the consequences [NLT]. What consequences? No specific consequences are listed but for me, the stagnation, frustration and spiritual distance were definite consequences of my action-less pleas.

I’ve always said when you’re really tired of something you’ll change it or leave it alone. Maybe I wasn’t tired enough and it’s safe to say I wasn’t ready to leave anything alone, but “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?” James 2:14 [NLT]. I know God heard my prayers and I know He honors my faith in Him, I'm learning now that He's also waiting for me to walk the walk. Waiting for me to really act like I believe in Him and His power that works in me.

“Talk is cheap”

“Don’t talk about it, be about it”

“Don’t write a check with your mouth that your butt can’t cash”

“Actions speak louder than words”

These sayings are real to me, more now than ever but more important than the words are the actions they’ve inspired.