Comprehending the Inexpressible

In his most recent General Conference talk, Songs Sung and Unsung, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland focused on one particular line of the hymn "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today." The line he chose to emphasize was "And Jesus listening can hear the songs I cannot sing." In doing so, Elder Holland took a very different interpretation of this lyric than I typically do. When I hear that line and think of why we may not always be able to sing such songs, the reason I most frequently turn to is that we simply may not have the words to express what we feel.

Prayers are often conducted verbally, by saying or at least thinking words, but that's not the only way to pray. Verbal prayers are somewhat limited by the words we know and how we can use them. Fortunately, God doesn't need to hear our words to understand our thoughts. God can enter into our hearts directly and deeply understand our feelings, even when we don't know how to describe them. Sometimes, we cannot sing the songs of our hearts because we don't have the right words, but that's not a problem for God. He knows what's in our hearts, whether we know how to describe it or not.

I am thankful for God's understanding. There have been many times when I simply started a prayer and opened up my heart to God, not thinking any particular words, just feeling, and after those prayers, I knew that God knew how I felt. We don't have to know how to talk about our feelings or how to articulate our thoughts. I am confident that God can hear and comprehend our prayers, even when we can't find the right words to say.