Your best words

Someday, you’re going to die.

If you make it to eighty, you’ll have spoken approximately 500 million words in your lifetime, give or take.

That’s nearly half a billion opportunities to build up, tear down, persuade, comfort, confess, question, explain, and affirm. Now add to that every word you write down, and the number gets bigger.

At the end of our days, if we could play back everything we’ve said and written, we’d hear careless words, hopeful words, fearful words, inspiring words, loving words, spiteful words—all colliding into the soundtrack of our lives.

But what will be your best words?

What phrases will you be most proud of? What sentences will do the most good? What words, though small and momentary, will echo into eternity?

It’s impossible to predict, although I have a hunch our best words won’t be those we publish, speak from a stage, or post on social media. Our best words won’t be scripted or outlined, edited or polished.

Our best words will catch us, and the world, by surprise.

Two notes

Two pieces of writing that have most shaped my life were not bestselling books or Pulitzer winners—they were two hand-written notes.

One was from an elderly man named Jerry who sang bass in the church choir (he was, in fact, the only bass in the choir, so hard to miss). To this day, I don’t know much about Jerry. He was a man with a quiet authority, who read something I wrote as a sixth grader and decided to write me a letter.

Honestly, I don’t remember much about the actual wording of his note, but the message got through. It said something like:

Will, I read your piece in the church newsletter. Wow. Surely God has some kind of leadership in store for you. I’m sure of it. Keep on writing and watch what the Lord can do with your gift.

Short. Simple. Incredibly kind. I may be biased, but those are some of Jerry’s best words. I’m guessing he never thought about that note again after sending it off. He’d likely be shocked to know twenty years later I’m still thinking about it. Sadly, I lost that note somewhere along the way, but in a deeper sense, I still carry it with me.

Last words

The second most impactful piece of writing I’ve ever read was only nine words: ”Just have to hold on until Will gets home.”

It was one sentence, scrawled by my mother in a small spiral notebook during her last 48 hours in the ICU. That notebook was a makeshift way to communicate, since it was hard for her weak voice to project past the tubes and oxygen mask and chirping machinery. One short phrase, written by a mother clinging dearly to life until her son could fly home from college to say goodbye, will stay with me forever.*

Your best words

How will you steward your 500 million chances to speak life into others?

You never know which phrases will stick to someone’s soul. You never know what prayers whispered over your kids will follow them all the days of their lives. You never know what passing compliment will restore someone’s confidence. You never know what honest rebuke will jolt someone out of destructive behavior. You never know how a hand-written note will serve as a compass for someone searching for their calling, or balm on the wound of discouragement.

We don’t know when our best words will spill out. That’s okay. We can’t manufacture them; we can only be intentional. We can form the habit of speaking aloud what lovers assume but never say, what parents think but don’t pronounce as blessing, what friends intuit but don’t look each other in the eye to declare.

We can speak up, trusting our best words to choose us as much as we choose them.

I’m rooting for you,

Will

*If you want to read the full story about my mom, here it is.

PS - If you need help developing a book idea, check out my book proposal course.

What are some of the best words you’ve ever received? I read every comment and would love to hear from you:

If you enjoyed this, would you share it with someone who would benefit?

👉 Become a paid subscriber today and get access to ‘Writing with Will”, a behind-the-scenes podcast where I document in real-time the process of writing and publishing my first book. You can sample the first episode here.

Hey, I’m Will Parker Anderson, a Senior Editor at Penguin Random House Christian. A lot of writers feel trapped on the outside, like writing and publishing are an elite inner circle they’re not welcome to join, and they feel alone & intimidated.

I want to change that, so I created Writers Circle—where I make insider knowledge open to everyone, so writers like you feel seen, equipped, and encouraged as you steward the words God has given you. My goal is to make writing less lonely and your next step more clear.