‘I’m afraid my words don’t match up with what I’m doing these days,’ a friend of mine recently said to me. ‘It’s so easy for me to say things, but I find it difficult to stand up for what I believe to be the truth when I’m around someone who has a different point of view than me. Unfortunately I want to be liked and approved of. I guess I don’t always walk my talk.’

I’ve thought a lot about what my friend said to me. We may not even be aware of our own need for approval, of our desire to be accepted by others. So it’s easy to compromise our beliefs, our honesty, and our integrity. Being consistent in what we believe and then demonstrating it in the way we live in the world may be one of our greatest challenges. Are we spiritually mature enough that we will not be swayed by the opinions of others?

Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘My life is my message.’ He was truly one of the people whose actions shouted to the world what he believed and what he valued. It is a fact that his actions spoke much louder than any of his words. Other people whose life was their message easily come to mind: Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela. As I’ve thought about these people, it seems that their ability to walk the talk and live their beliefs had a lot to do with their relationship with God, which completely permeated them and surrounded them so they were able to become what they believed. Thus we could easily see that their lives were their message.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, ‘What you are speaks so loudly, I can’t hear a word you say.’ So what is my message to the world? What is yours? What are we truly committed to living for regardless of who we are with or where we are? What about our relationship with God and how does that show in our message? Perhaps when we begin to address some of these questions, we can begin to live from the inside out – not from the outside in.

Yes, we all have a message to share with the world. Perhaps that’s why we are here. How we choose to share who and what we are through our actions is our message.

Dearest God, thank you for being our companion in all of life. We turn to you asking that you permeate all of our thoughts, words, deeds, and actions with your presence. Help us to express your love and justice to the world through not only what we say but by what we do. May we walk the talk with you. Amen.

Joy Carol

www.joycarol.com