Where Your Words Go

I get so tired of hearing people complain about our area.  It amazes me how quickly people can tear down hope and promise around them. There’s always a critic ready to spew negativity.  Anyway, I wrote a poem that contrasts the critic and the cultivator.

 

The critic curses the land,

Damning it to an eternal doom.

Never, hopeless and unlikely

Drip from his tongue

Poisoning the streets with toxic waste.

Grim eyes see only melancholy tones

Famine, drugs and death lie at his feet.

 

The cultivator breaks open the earth,

Feeding it with life giving seed.

Certainty, hope and promise

Are planted with his hands

Tenderness sifts the grounds.

Bright eyes see a plethora of harvest

Abundance, fruitfulness and life expand around him.

 

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21  Words can tear down or they can build up.  Is your vocabulary filled with life or death? How many dreams have you crushed or ignited? Let’s pour waters of hope onto a land that looks parched.  Let’s drown out the negativity by showering blessings onto the land.  Breathe life, nurture the downtrodden until they thrive.  We have to bless our land, it’s been cursed long enough.

 

Words from my Fingertips

Time for Five Minute Friday

Go……

Write

It’s funny how today’s five minute Friday is the exact word I was hoping for.  The thought must be in the atmosphere, bouncing between like minds, pondering the reasons we peck on the computer.  I write because it is an outlet for me to say what is on my mind.  I write to throw thoughts, daydreams, opinions, and my heart on a visible surface so that I can go back and see what I’ve come from.  I write because it gives me a voice that I’m afraid of using when I’m around others.  I write because for some strange reason it brings me peace.  I write because I am in love with words.  I write because I want words returned to me.  I write because I want to be completely honest with my emotions.  I write to be sincere.  There is power in words, in writing. 

 

I began writing in a journal when I was ten years old.  My grandmother bought a diary for me.  I scribbled in it and admitted who I had a crush on or why I was frustrated with my parents.  My grandmother kept a notebook by her bedside, she scribbled in it as well.  Her handwriting looked like chicken scratch. 

 

Stop

But beauty came from the words she scratched down.  Her heart was poured upon that notebook.  She would often speak of what she did for the day, such as shopping, visiting people, and church.  But, she would also talk about her concerns with her children and grandchildren.  I think her journal was visible letters to God, it was like David’s psalms in the Bible.  My grandmother didn’t have much of an education, she made up for it through the huge heart she had for her family and others.  I miss my grandmother, but I thank God for all that she taught me.  She taught me to love, she taught me power in words, she instilled the love of writing in me. 

 

 

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Word!

I am a lover of words. As a child, I would grab my mother’s big blue dictionary from the shelf and randomly turn to a page and read new words or explore definitions I was vaguely familiar with. I’d search for newer adjectives, adverbs, and nouns to fill the blanks of my Mad Lib books. Perhaps that is why I have a pile of greeting cards stuffed in drawers and in boxes in the attic. I keep notes, love letters, and written thoughts hidden away to remind me what someone thought of me or what I thought of someone else. I have journals stacked from when I was a teen and some as an adult. Why am I so obsessed with words?

Many people say there is power in words. I completely agree that there is. Words can build up or tear down. Words can love or hate. Words can ignite people to act, either positively or negatively. Words can heal or hurt. Words can encourage or destroy. What do the words you speak say about you? What do you spout off to others? Are you careful with what you say or do you say whatever comes to mind? How do you speak to those around you? What would someone say about you and the words you use? Would you want to hear what they say?

“I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.” Emily Dickinson

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat it’s fruit.” Proverbs 18:21 NLV