Stop and think, if you will for a minute, of some of the nicest things people have ever said about you or to you. We all have those few things that touched our heart so deeply that we will never, ever forget them. When I am feeling uncertain, down, or second-rate, I pull these simple words out of my memory and almost instantly feel better. Now, this is no where NEAR all of the positive things I have kept in my mind, but just a few.
My old high school Sunday School teacher is probably one that I remember most. She is very wise, a great Christian, compassionate but tough, and a pretty amazing woman. Just seeing her sometimes brings me to tears. I remember a lot of things she told me, but a couple really stand out. And this was probably 13 years ago. She once told me that she can see the love I have for my little sisters in every thing I do. (I was in high school, they were in jr. high and elementary school, and I love my other sisters too, for the record, all 6 of them! My younger two were the ones she saw me with at church all of the time.) She said she could tell how much I loved them just by the way I looked at them. And she was so right. She still is. I feel like I want to protect them from everything, just like I would my children. I want to be a good role model for them (even though they are adults now!) I want them to know (and all of my sisters to know) that I love everything about them. Even when we fight or disagree, even when they make mistakes (who doesn't?), and I really wish I could wipe every single pain away and catch every tear they cry. I felt like that in high school, and I still do. Another thing she said to me was that I was really quiet, but when I did talk, the world better listen because I had something to say. I am probably considerably less quiet now, I have a lot more confidence than I did back then, but I hope that what I say still carries some weight. Her husband passed away a few years back. It was really hard for me, even though I didn't know him nearly as well as her, it hurt me to know that she was in so much pain. I wish that I had something really wise to say to her. Especially on that day. But I was silent....
My dad... oh where do I even begin with the knowledge that he has passed on to me. I wish he would sit and write everything he thinks down so that not only I can draw advice and comfort from it forever, but so that my children and their children could. I don't know a lot of people who would make the sacrifices he does, who can look at life even in the bleakest of moments and know and trust in God that everything is going to be okay. Specifically, he told me what I need to look for in a man. He told me this in my teens. He said first and foremost he had to have God in his heart. If he has God in his heart, everything else will fall in place. Trust was the other thing that he said was extremely important. He always sends me a card for my birthday, and I know to get the box of tissues before I read it. Everything he says is meaningful.
My husband. I have a folder full of cards, letters (when we lived in different states), and pictures of our journey so far in this life. He doesn't like when I "show my friends" all of the sweet stuff he says or does. And I respect that so I won't go into much detail but I will tell you that I will never forget the day he dropped me off (with my family) at college in Minneapolis. It was such a sad day for us. Unsure of what the future would hold, him living 6 hours away, me in this new place. If I only knew then that three months later, he would drop out of college (not a great idea, but he did go back and finish!), transfer stores, and we would move in together, get married, and have beautiful, healthy babies...
I could really go on for days about the people who have touched my life, who inspired me when I needed it the most. I don't want this to sound like I am bragging about nice things people said about me. I just wanted to share a glimpse of what the power of words can have. Negative and Positive. (I didn't share the negative. I won't give those words any more power than they've already had.) So try to be kind to everyone. Say something nice to someone. You never know how badly they need it, or how long they will cherish those words.
No comments:
Post a Comment