שמע - tell - kindness

About a year ago I had a surprising experience. I was waking up one morning when I sensed an inner voice very clearly asking "What three words?" You know, like the app which uses three words to locate someone anywhere on the face of the earth. "What three words?" felt like an invitation to locate myself - not geographically, but personally and spiritually. Where did my heart want to dwell?

I thought for about two seconds and then began formulating a 'right' answer in my mind. What three words should define a Christian, a priest, a husband, a father? Words began to surface ... 'prayer', 'love', 'grace', 'joy' ... good words, the right kind of words.

But I sensed a powerful pushback. "No!" came that inner response. "For you, truly, what three words?"

And to my surprise my own heart responded immediately: 'שמע', 'tell', 'kindness'!

שמע: the Hebrew word shema meaning, broadly, 'listen'. 'Tell' the way storytellers tell, not preaching or persuading but simply relating words to another. 'Kindness', that little virtue that can seem so insignificant.

Those words have been resonating in my heart for a year now. I've written them out and put them on my walls. I've painted them on Rocinante's tiny dashboard. I'm intending to travel with them as I ride. That's one of the things I'll be talking about here.