Words.

Words have weight....they hurt and they stay with you...and while we'd all like to repeat the rhyme "sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me" we all carry one (or three) bad experiences with us where the wrong words were chosen and feelings were hurt. Truth is, they sting...and it's difficult to not take things personally. I struggle with that very thing in my personal and professional life...usually telling myself it is what it is...but is it?

I have also been thinking of the weight of someone's word. Promises broken and kept, words said that are deceitful and truthful, and a million and one pros and cons lists for just such situations. I was reminded again this weekend of that very thing...mostly because to a child your word is everything. They rely on it, cling to it, and hold you to it without even thinking twice about asking you again and again when you will do or when they will receive whatever it is that you promised. When do we lose that trait...the part where we are brave enough to ask for what we've been promised from someone. I ponder that as I think of the weight of follow through....dinners promised, time promised and other expectations all turned into disappointments. Because-as adults-we've stopped asking and allowed for excuses to keep happening...but yesterday, when I tried to talk a 4 and 7 year old out of a trip to the zoo out of town, I was reminded that I had promised and for them, that was all that mattered....so we went....even though it was 95 degrees and disgusting.....because my word had weight and they remembered. 

Soon enough all of those empty promises and failed handshakes become cold reminders of heart aches. I have tried my best to let most of them go but there are always those ones that just stick with you. Those few moments where the weight of the words was far greater than you could have known at the time....so, choose wisely...or the weight of your own words might begin to weigh you down.