Posts Tagged With: power

It’s The Little Things

A Facebook friend yesterday pointed out something I hadn’t thought of in a long time but which is having a significant effect on me lately.

Small and simple things wield immense amounts of power.

If you doubt that think about the following:

  • photo-20 copy 5A small shard of glass stuck in your foot
  • A sliver in your finger
  • A paper cut
  • Sand in your eye
  • A kidney stone no bigger than a grain of rice
  • A pebble in your shoe
  • A mosquito
  • A single hair in your food
  • A drop of ketchup on a white shirt
  • Spark from a spark plug
  • One single flame on a candle
  • An apple seed
  • A hairline fracture
  • The rudder on a large ship

In “The Hobbit,” Gandalf says, “Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.” J.R.R. Tolkien knew his stuff didn’t he?

Some of the most powerful aspects of my life are small and simple everyday things.

  • A hug
  • A smile
  • A handshake
  • Thanks expressed
  • photo-18 copy 17A wink
  • A short prayer
  • An apology
  • An offer of help
  • A note of encouragement
  • Laughter
  • A phone call
  • Tears
  • A plate of food
  • A text
  • A loaf of bread
  • An email
  • A shared meal
  • A letter in the mail
  • Condolences
  • A glass of water
  • A cool washcloth
  • Concern
  • Caring
  • Love spoken

It’s amazing how a few small things make the difference between a dark day and a day filled with rays of light breaking through the clouds.

I’m lucky to have so many sources of light willing to shine for me. I hope I can likewise be a small light to others in some small way, every single day.

Categories: Gratitude, Wondering | Tags: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Needing the Power of Words

It’s Gratituesday! Today I am thankful for the power of words. That may sound silly until you think about words in varying contexts.

Prayer

(Photo credit: mojoey)

For instance, the power of words spoken in a prayer. I’m not thinking about rote prayers, repeated utterances we make with little thought. The words I’m thinking about pour out of a place deeper than a person’s mouth. Words birthed in loss and heartache and heaviness. Words searching for a foothold. Words struggling for sense in a senseless situation. Those words carry power and heft and potential healing.

Sometimes the mere act of placing words into the heavens is all it takes to see things clearer, to feel enabled to keep going forward. Sometimes a need requires action words added to the spoken ones. Sometimes answers arrive in unexpected packages. Sometimes answers seem elusive. But the power of the words remains unchanged.

what are word for?

what are word for? (Photo credit: Darwin Bell)

Power rides on the words we speak or withhold. Expressions of love carry a potent, almost magical strength that binds and seals. Failure to let words work such charms can leave a vast emptiness that a lifetime may never fill.

Words accompanied by music make up life’s most power-filled elixirs. Nothing else prompts action, conveys emotion, shares thoughts as well as music with words. Better than a prescription, well-chosen words combined with a perfect tune can make a gray day brighten.  Carefully placed words in a melody that touches the heartstrings can open doors long shut with hinges rusted over.

I haven’t even touched on the incomparable time-traveling properties of words, or the artistic nuances available in poetry and prose. And laughter? What elicits a laugh easier than a few just-so words? Words offer condolence. Words may lift an aching heart. Words connect, intertwine, link and hold fast.

Such powers that words possess will lift and heal and hold me today. And everyday.

Categories: Gratitude, Gratituesday | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Without

Pay attention to the without in the quotation below. Sometimes one word changes the meaning completely in a sentence. Sometimes one word can make all the difference in direction, focus and destination.

Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948), political and ...

“Seven Deadly Sins-

Wealth without work

Pleasure without conscience

Science without humanity

Knowledge without character

Politics without principle

Commerce without morality

Worship without sacrifice.” 

— Mahatma Gandhi

Look at that.

To the left of each without a list of good things. To the right of each without a list of good things.

Each devoid of the other loses its luster and some of its strength.

Each coupled with the other becomes a powerful force, a better thing.

Imagine a world like that.

 

Categories: The World | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

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