Reconnecting...

There I was minding my own business on Facebook when I get a friend request. This person wasn't a mutual friend of any of my other friends. Hmmm... Still his face looked familiar... like someone I once went to school with... so I broke my own rule and accepted his friend request.

Finally curiosity got the best of me so I sent him a message asking if he ever lived in WV. He did! It was indeed my old friend from 3rd grade! I was totally blown away because I went to 2 different elementary schools in 2 different states, and I left the school we attended together in 5th grade.

Moving around so much made me very good at remembering names and faces quickly and for a long time. I tired to make my friendships count because I never knew when the church would move us again. Through the years, I wondered (and still do) what one person was doing or where another person was now. One of the friends I was never able to forget was the same guy who sent me the random friend request. On top of that he said that he'd often thought of me through the years and wondered how I was and what I was doing! I was so touched when he told me how much my friendship had meant to him all those years ago!

Long story short, we've 45 minutes away from each other for the past several years and we never knew it. So yesterday morning we met for the first time in 34 years, and suddenly I'm hugging my old pal, sitting across from him catching up over over eggs and juice, laughing over shared memories. We laughed about how we didn't feel as old as our parents had seemed at our age. For moment time stood still and it was as though we'd never been apart. It was almost surreal.

This is one of several friends that I've reconnected with over the past year or two, and the one that goes back the furthest. I'm not sure why we've come back into one anothers' lives, but I have no doubt it's for a reason. I'm looking forward to what's to come...

Words = Power

I can not tell you when my love affair with words began. I can say that ever since I can remember I've been a lover or words. Whether written, spoken or sung, I have always known that words contain power even before I knew how to articulate it.

I'm not the only one who thinks so. There are countless quotes out there about the power of our words:

“Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care, for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or evil.” Siddhartha Gotoma or Buddha (563-483 B.C.)

“Quite simply, what you say is the single biggest factor that determines your happiness.”
Irwin Katsof Executive Director Jerusalem Fund of Ashish HaTorah, author.

Kind words are a creative force, a power that concurs in the building up of all that is good, and energy that showers blessings upon the world. Lawrence G. Lovasik (1913- present) Clergyman

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue” wrote wise King Solomon, Proverbs 18:21

"Writing has an almost magical power: Words on paper, created by ordinary citizens, have overthrown governments and changed the course of history." ~ Joel L. Swerdlow

You get the idea. Many of us still feel the effects of words that have been spoken to or about us over the years. Likewise we have seen the effects of our words on others whether good or bad. Words have power and it's up to us to decide if we will use them for good of for evil, to hurt or to heal.

With this in mind, I have never been able to take the title "writer" lightly. While my words may not impact the masses, I realize they will impact whoever sees them and so I take great care in choosing them very carefully. My intent is always to bless and to build up; to encourage and to inspire. If I haven't accomplished these things, then my writing is in vain as far as I'm concerned.

Maybe this is why I shied away from the label for so long. Behind the title I saw the responsibility connected to it and I knew I lacked the maturity necessary to assume it. Now, however, I embrace it. I can't begin to describe the joy that rushes through me when someone tells me they were positively affected by something I said or something I wrote.

Yeah, words have power. They can cross barriers, bring understanding, right wrongs... power! Here's hoping more of us will choose to use our power for the good.