I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.
Emily Dickinson
“I have the most amazing news.”
My granddaughter has shared a lot of amazing news with me over the course of her nine years. Her optimism is one of the many things I love about her.
This time it’s about an end-of-year exercise her third grade class is doing. Each student is taking time to write something nice about every other student in the class. The notes are being gathered by the teacher and will be shared in a couple of weeks when the school year ends.
The teacher (the amazing Mrs. Brown) shared a thought with each of her students yesterday—maybe as a spark to get them going on the project.
My granddaughter couldn’t wait to tell me what the teacher said about her: “Makiya is the best writer I’ve ever had in my class.” She went on to say that one of her friends had recently asked her to write a story for her—seems she is already gaining a reputation as a writer.
Proud grandma moment.
Her exuberance reminded me of the power our words yield. We choose, every day, whether to speak life or darkness and, while we may not understand the full impact our words have this side of heaven, we can be certain they have one.
Let’s choose them wisely.
Like it or not, we either add to the darkness of indifference and out-and-out evil which surrounds us or we light a candle to see by.
Madeline L’Engle

Proud friend-of-Grandma moment! Congratulations to a great role model and Makiya!
🙂