Living. Lovely. ~ Kind Words

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment,

or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

~Leo Buscaglia





How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged,

sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong.

Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.

~George Washington Carver





When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.

~Abraham Joshua Heschel





By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach.

~Winston Churchill





Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight.

Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster,

and do it with no thought of any reward.

Your life will never be the same again.

~Og Mandino

Did you

Speak Kind Words

to someone this week?

Is there someone in your life (spouse, sibling, co-worker, child, parent) to whom your words are often unkind?
Did you make an effort to swallow the things you wanted to say,
and instead find words of encouragement?

Did it improve your relationship?

Did it bring you joy?
How did they respond?

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I love motherhood dearly. I love my children dearly.
I love homeschooling.

But, by golly, sometimes the 24-7-ness of it wears me down,
all my nerves frayed and exposed.

Boys. Gotta love them. With their noise and dirt and exuberance.
Everything about them screams LIFE! ABUNDANTLY!

Extroverts. Gotta love them. Talking. Touching. Constantly.
By the end of the day I desperately need to be ensconced in a 10 foot sound-proof bubble.

Over and over again, I find myself saying words that tear down.
Even if the words are benign, the tone of voice or body language is not.

What am I thinking?! These are little people God has entrusted to me!
Not only do my words have the ability to tear down,
but I am teaching my boys, by example, how to treat others.

How can I be angry at my boys for yelling, when I do?
How can I be angry at my boys for their attitudes, when mine is unacceptable?

I've made a huge, conscious effort to speak kindly to my boys (one in particular) this week,
even (especially) when I'm pulling my hair out with frustration.

This shouldn't come as any surprise, but the boys have responded to correction more quickly,
their attitudes are better, and they are treating each other with more kindness.

A few days are only drops in a colossal bucket.

God help me, I must keep this up.

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Next week's Living. Lovely. challenge:

Celebrate Autumn!

October gave a party;

The leaves by hundreds came -

The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,

And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet,

And everything was grand,

Miss Weather led the dancing,

Professor Wind the band.

~George Cooper, "October's Party"

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Do you have ideas for Living. Lovely. challenges?

If you would like to make suggestions for future challenges,
feel free to leave a comment or email me at heidi (at) poetsgarden (dot) com.