Words Have Power

Have you ever noticed that words really do have power? I never bought into the whole "sticks and stones" thing, because I believe words truly can hurt you. Words can tear you down. They can crush your spirit. They can cut deep and twist like a knife. But words can also build you up. They can make your heart sing. Cause your spirit to lift and swirl as if riding on the wind.

Words have power.

We move through our days, and even though we know life on earth can't last forever, we tend to live our lives as if it will. "I’ll see you tomorrow. Next week. This afternoon…"

Recently, two people close to me lost their fathers in a similar way. Very sudden. They were there one second and the next they were gone. Slipping from this world to the next in a literal heartbeat. When death happens this way, it's unexpected…and shocking. Similar refrains were repeated over and over as people gathered murmuring, "I just spoke with him yesterday. A few days ago. This morning…"

We're not prepared.

I attended one funeral and listened as family members and friends moved to the pulpit and spoke, telling stories and reminiscing. I was struck by something shared by one daughter in particular. After recounting some thoughts and special stories, she proceeded to confess that despite the overwhelming sorrow she experienced at losing her father, she at least had no regrets in one regard. She revealed the fact that not one day went by without her telling her father she loved him. And he told her the same.

For some of you, this may not seem such a big deal. But for me, it was a moment of epiphany.

Although I tell my children and husband I love them on a daily basis, I began to think about my own parents and siblings. I was raised in a loving, relatively normal family of six. I had no doubt that my parents loved me, my siblings and each other. But growing up we rarely, if ever, actually said the words "I love you" out loud. It's not that we didn't feel it or think it. We just didn't say it.

While speaking on the phone with one of my brothers a few years back, we recognized this fact and began concluding our phone conversations to each other with those three magic words. But I hadn't expanded beyond that.

This has officially changed. I am now much more conscious of my interactions with all the people I love. And it's inspired me to remember to actually say those powerful words a lot more often.

So…have you said "I love you" today?



Image by: Koinos Zoi Photography