Talk's Cheap!

There was a period last year when I listened to a gentleman go on and on about all the wonderful things he was going to do to help change the life of a small Moldovan community. The people in the community were mesmerised and you could see and feel their enthusiasm as they hung on to each word he said. But you could also see how much their adulation was fuelling the man.

Such behaviour, often called boasting, has long traditions in some western cultures and at times, over the years I’ve grown to perceive it as a method of personal encouragement used by some people to help them achieve their own goals.

I’m sure you can understand what I’m saying: it’s a bit like giving yourself a pep talk each morning: ‘I’m going to build a hospital right here.’ ‘I am going to cinch that account in the first meeting.’ ‘I’m not going to say one bad thing about my mother in law today.’

Big talk can be vaguely amusing in the short run, but anything more than small doses and it can fast become an embarrassment and certainly a bit of a bore. Even to Western ears, it can often sound like bragging.

But what happens when a culture that is not accustomed to hearing this type of super-charged ego stroking discovers that all they heard was nothing but bravado and wishful thinking? What happens when those fragile building blocks of hope, they’ve worked so hard to achieve, collapse like sand, simply because of an individual’ s egocentric behaviour?

Sure, it’s easy to just drop the big talk and do something. Quite so! But where do we find the energy and the will to act rather than just talk?

This year as needs become more intense and times become more challenging I’m working harder to find people who will provide actions first, then words. I’ve always remembered the Apostle James asking ‘What good is it to profess faith without practicing it?’

Talk’s cheap. Just do it!

Sweet Talkers!

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