What is the one thing that every person has the moment they are born? The one thing that no one but the person themselves could stop, hinder, or change?

A voice.

I’m not simply talking about air moving across vocal chords, therefore producing sound, but I’m referring to a desire, a longing, and need to communicate their deepest passions to the world.

Why is it that babies feel the freedom to express themselves whenever they so desire?

They don’t think, “What will my friends think of me if I speak my mind?”

They never wonder, “Why does it matter? No one cares what I have to say.”

Why is it that when we grow older, we lose our confidence in expressing ourselves unashamedly? We begin to care less about what we stand for and more about what is trendy and cool. We are afraid of what may happen if we were honest…

with our parents,

     our friends,

          our God,

               and mostly…

                    …ourselves.

The worst part is not that we’ve stopped the conversation, but that we’ve filled it with…well, for lack of a better word…

junk.

We have dumbed down our power of communication so that it carries no weight. The only time we speak out is to comment on our favorite TV show, talk about an up and coming band, or, when our true colors show, we use our words to stab a friend in the back.

All of these exchanges take us out of the “hot seat”, so that we won’t have to share what is really going on…

in the deepest,

darkest nooks of our heart.

Everyday we all get a chance to speak with purpose and passion, confidence and openness, honesty and love.

We all get two quotation marks…one when we wake up and the other when we go to sleep. It’s the area in between that we are given, on a daily basis, to use to the best of our ability.

How will you share what’s inside of you?

How will you communicate your heart?

How will you…fill the space?

As I think back on my four years of high school, I have many regrets. Things that I wish I could do differently, actions that I would change if I had a DeLorean and a mad scientist for a best friend (if you haven’t seen Back to the Future, you’re missing out).

But my greatest regrets are not the things that I did,

but rather the things that I did not do,

the love that I did not show,

and the words I did not say.

I can remember times when my “friends” would pick on someone. And I should have helped…I should have stood up for what was right…but I didn’t. I figured that I am not the one hurting them, so that makes me not as bad. But by NOT saying anything, by NOT doing anything, I was just as guilty as they were.

We obviously can’t go back and change our past, but we can refuse to be silent any longer. Everyday we see people who are hurting and wrongs that must be righted. We all have daily opportunities to stand up for what we know to be true. Our motives always have to come from a heart that is in love with Jesus, and through His love we can reach out to the broken-hearted. This is not an “us versus them” mentality. The bully needs to be loved, just as much as the one being bullied. We simply need to begin speaking out with the voice that we have, and loving people with the love that we’ve been given.

Everyday we take the stage.

The microphone is on, and the audience is waiting…

-Written by Chris Molitor, host of TheDRIVEtv