Now that it's past the holidays, my kids were reflecting on the best gifts they'd received this year - i pod, r/c helicopter, things like that. But they both agreed that the very, very best gifts of all were the hand made cards and poems they gave to each other, and the stories we read together around the Christmas tree. Some of these stories we've been reading annually for years and years. Some we know so well we don't have to read them - we can recite them.
It made me think a lot about the power of words - how words are the gift that really do keep on giving.
It goes both ways of course, positive and negative. I remember my mother telling me never put something in writing unless you MEAN it. Never put in writing something you might REGRET.
When you write something down - even if its a thank you note - or a post it note! - remember that your words have power, and sometimes, if you're lucky, grace.
In terms of the books we write and read, it's amazing really, to think that words are the ultimate gift. To think that we are presenting ourselves - literally and figuratively. We're showing something very personal and profound in our choices of what we write and what we read. We're sharing something exciting and intimate.
If you love a book, don't you just love sharing it, recommending it to others? Aren't there quotes, scenes, moments that keep on living with you long after you've set that book aside to gather dust on a shelf?
Words are never outdated and never out of fashion, when they have meaning.
Make what you say, write, and read meaningful - today!
Give a word or two to someone you know.
Genie Davis
www.geniedavis.com
4 comments:
Love the blog, Genie.
It's so true. Words are powerful. Thanks for the reminder.
CC
Great post, Genie. It bears repeating that we should say what we mean, and mean what we say, and try not to hurt anyone with our words. Because words are like bullets. Once fired, you can't take them back (without sounding like a total idiot, of course). And that goes for the words we write, as well.
LOL, Genie. I live with a family of five men. Lots of our "conversations" occur in grunts. They don't understand why I talk so much. I tell them it's to fill the silence.
Silence doesn't seem to bother them.
Oh, Sally, I only live with three! I do feel sometimes I'm just talking into the air but at least the words are out there. One of them does talk more than the others so maybe I've helped some other wife down the road.
Thanks, Genie, for a reminder of the power of words. Just called a couple out-of-town family members to let them know I was thinking of them.
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