It was a dark stormy night
as the train rattled on
All the passengers had gone to bed
except a young man with a baby in his arms
he sat with a bowed down head
...the innocent one began crying just then
as though it's poor heart would break
an angry man said "make the child stop it's noise for it's keeping all of us awake"
John Cougar Mellencamp-scarecrow
This is an old song that dates back to the time when trains moved people around and not buses and cars. A time when a man on a train with a child likely meant the mother had died. Think of the lonely man sitting with his only child trying to sooth the crying babe by himself and only getting by way of "help" is people complaining about the noise. How much more alone must he have felt, the weight of the wee ones future bearing down on him, the enormity of the years of work before him, pouring himself into this reminder that the love of his life lies cold and dead in the ground. The reality that this perfect little child will never know the warm caress of his mothers arms, the gentle pressure with both the simplicity and the sublimity of which can tell the child that "all is well and that nothing will harm you". The child will never hear her soft willowy voice as she sings it off to sleep on clouds of dream time adventures, never hear the soft reassuring hymn of her favorite hymn and she works quietly. His child will never know her or truly understand the sacrifice given to bring it into this world.
And now think how many times do we play the part of the "angry man" and only complain of the affects on us? How often do careless words cut and tear? How often do the words of a hardened heart crush a tender one? How many times has the final straw been a thoughtless word carelessly tossed tossed upon already overloaded shoulders being crushed under a world of weight.
Words matter. Words can paint a grander picture than the greatest artist. Words can transport you to the worlds end and beyond in flights of imagination unrivaled by any technology ever could. Words can build a person up from nothing. Words can encourage a downtrodden child and bring a smile at the end of a discouraging day. But words can also wound and maim, destroy and kill. Words matter.
Proverbs 18:21 (King James Version)
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
as the train rattled on
All the passengers had gone to bed
except a young man with a baby in his arms
he sat with a bowed down head
...the innocent one began crying just then
as though it's poor heart would break
an angry man said "make the child stop it's noise for it's keeping all of us awake"
John Cougar Mellencamp-scarecrow
This is an old song that dates back to the time when trains moved people around and not buses and cars. A time when a man on a train with a child likely meant the mother had died. Think of the lonely man sitting with his only child trying to sooth the crying babe by himself and only getting by way of "help" is people complaining about the noise. How much more alone must he have felt, the weight of the wee ones future bearing down on him, the enormity of the years of work before him, pouring himself into this reminder that the love of his life lies cold and dead in the ground. The reality that this perfect little child will never know the warm caress of his mothers arms, the gentle pressure with both the simplicity and the sublimity of which can tell the child that "all is well and that nothing will harm you". The child will never hear her soft willowy voice as she sings it off to sleep on clouds of dream time adventures, never hear the soft reassuring hymn of her favorite hymn and she works quietly. His child will never know her or truly understand the sacrifice given to bring it into this world.
And now think how many times do we play the part of the "angry man" and only complain of the affects on us? How often do careless words cut and tear? How often do the words of a hardened heart crush a tender one? How many times has the final straw been a thoughtless word carelessly tossed tossed upon already overloaded shoulders being crushed under a world of weight.
Words matter. Words can paint a grander picture than the greatest artist. Words can transport you to the worlds end and beyond in flights of imagination unrivaled by any technology ever could. Words can build a person up from nothing. Words can encourage a downtrodden child and bring a smile at the end of a discouraging day. But words can also wound and maim, destroy and kill. Words matter.
Proverbs 18:21 (King James Version)
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.