When Twenty-Six Letters Come Up Short But His Word is Still Enough

I’ve read quotes from many famous authors this morning.

Authors who have faced the pain of sudden loss.

I’ve read the words of many famous men and women from history.

Men and women who have walked roads of horrific tragedy and heartache.

I’ve been searching for some stringing together of words that could somehow speak into the news I heard late last night.

But everything I read seemed to ring with an echo of nothingness like a spoon tapped against pillow.

It’s moments like this when I realize just how empty words can be.

It’s moments like this when I realize that no matter what man tries to say in the face of unexpected loss, NOTHING makes the reality of last night’s news any better.

So, I turn to the only Book that really speaks into pain, the only Author who has the right to voice His opinion about life and death and not be questioned.

He who spoke life into being and who sent His own Son, the living Word, to save us from the one thing we can’t understand – death –

His Word somehow takes the same twenty-six letters we all try to jumble together into Facebook statuses and tweets in an attempt to come to grips with news we never wanted to hear and bring a sense of calm in the middle of our chaos.

Our town is grieving today.

Another teen has been pulled from this life to the next in a split-second,

and we as teachers, friends, and family are left here with no words to really communicate anything more than sadness.

So, this morning, I have no words of my own and no words of any other person from history who has walked this tragic road before us and made everything seem better or okay.

I just have His Word.

And I will cling to it today as I prepare to face students with tears and questions.

My use of twenty-six letters will always fall short,

but His Word will always be enough………………….

for yesterday’s news, today’s heartache, and tomorrow’s sorrow.