One True Word

I like the writing of Ernest Hemingway.

One day many years ago I was reading The Old Man and the Sea and I remember saying to myself: "This is great writing. What a great book." That realization sneeks up on you like the soft glow that follows a wonderful meal where everything was right.

And speaking of a good meal, I am reading "A Movable Feast" by Hemingway. In it Hemingway writes:

"I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, "Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say."

One true sentence. Hemingway always knew that one true sentence.

My goal is just to write that one true sentence, to speak that one good word. Solomon said that a word fitly spoken was like apples of gold on a plate of silver (Proverbs 25:11). The New American Standard Version translates it like this: "Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances."

The goal then is to write or say the right thing at the right time. To write or speak the true word. A true word brings blessing, hope, comfort and love. There is an excellence in it. It is the arrow rightly shot. It is a golf ball truly hit. It is not done to win the game. Instead it is done as worship to the true God and Maker of the Universe. It is the sacrifice of excellence.

May both my written word and spoken word contain hope, encouragement and love. If it does not, then may my mouth be mute and my hand broken.

My choice is to speak the one true word to write the one true word. And may that word be delivered in the right time. It will take practice and sacrifice. I hope I have it in me.

That is all I want-just one true word. One.