I was watering in our greenhouse, ya’ know the plants we have not been able to put into the ground due to freeze warnings (ugh!) and I was amazed at both sides of water. To plants water is a life giving element, one they cannot live without. They absorb it and grow simply because it is present. Water holds life and allows everything it touches to get bigger and stronger, and more beautiful. As I pointed and sprayed I thought about the miracle that is water. The amazing gift it brings simply by being applied.
But there is another side, the destructive side. We’ve had floods and leaks and as a result water has destroyed many elements of our world. We’ve had to recover from damage and repair, replace, and fix too many times due to too much water. So when not managed properly water has a destructive side that can destroy and ruin anything in it’s path. It can leave stains and damage in it’s wake that go undiscovered until it is too late. It can kill and destroy simply by too much of it being applied.
If you replace water with words, the same rules apply. When used properly words can free our souls and bring out our best. We thrive, we grow, we become a better version of ourselves. When words of praise, kindness, hope and love saturate our souls the possibilities are endless. Words bring life we never imagined was possible. And when words are used to harm, or neglect, tear down or overwhelm us they can stop us in our tracks. Those words leave stains and scars that go unseen except from within, and they prevent us from ever being effective as ourselves. Cruel words, mean words, harsh words, words meant to belittle or humiliate or even puncture our inner beings all destroy anything in their path. Like water, too many damaging words are hard to overcome.
If I take the comparison to one more level, plants can survive after too much water. When they dry out many will eventually thrive and use the portions of water that bring life to help them overcome. When they get out from under the flood they recoup and bounce back. Plants are very resilient even with too much or too little water. They learn how to survive on what they get, pulling what they need and waiting until the flood is over to come back. They let go of to much and hold on when there is too little…they hunker down, ride it out, and come back when the time and water is right.
What words have you used lately that left a stain? What words have you heard about yourself that have destroyed your will to overcome? Where do you need more words of kindness or attention and fewer words that destroy? Maybe you need to learn a lesson from plants – take what you need, leave what you don’t. And when overwhelmed by the flood of mean words, wait it out, dry out, and come back another day. We all get too much or too little of what we need to grow and thrive, the key is knowing when to simply survive until the sunshine arrives and grow at a later date.
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