Take This Pole

DH and I were scanning today’s The State after lunch, and I was feeling all sugar and spice after writing and reflecting on my earlier post of today. Then I came across this “Quote of the Day” by Mike Huckabee in reference to the Confederate flag: “You don’ t have to like people from outside the state coming in and telling you what to do with your flag. In fact, if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell ‘em what to do with the pole, that’s what we’d do.”

Does that statement strike you as being a little weird, or is it just me? After all, I wrote about showing love through speech this morning so I might still be feeling the after effects.  Do Huckabee’s words seem Christ-like to you? Is that how a “man of the cloth” speaks? If this is how he responds to criticism about Arkansas, can we assume that that’s the way he’d respond to heads of state (if he were the president)?

Maybe I should heed my own advice and speak words of love. Then again, maybe I have a moral responsibility to bring the Huckster’s  statement to your attention.

Love is Spoken Here

I promise that this will be the last post about the power of words for a while…a week or so anyway. Many will recognize “Love is Spoken Here” as the name of a children’s song, an especially moving one when sung with the sweet and beautiful voices of the little ones.

 A few months ago, I heard a young woman singing it on Steffie Lynn’s blog, and I was captivated. I listened to it several times before finally downloading it to my desktop so that I could enjoy it as often as I wanted to without having to log on to the internet. Yep, it’s that good. 

During this time period, I was visiting my niece Katherine and noticed that she had the words “Great is Thy Faithfulness” written (painted?) above a window in her dining room. It looked so perfect, so right, that I had to get all the details about how she did it. It was easy. Katherine went to a local art shop and simply placed an order for the words and picked up the decal a week later.  The words look like script that someone painstakingly painted on her wall, but actually someone made a decal for her that she applied to the surface. Copycat that I am, I quickly followed Katherine’s example but used my own words: “Love is Spoken Here.” Those words are now above the archway in my dining room that faces the living room/family room, and it’s amazing what an impact they have had on us.

 Whenever anyone is tempted to gossip, speak sarcastically, lash out in anger, or speak hurtful words, that little reminder stops him or her. During the Christmas holidays, it wasn’t unusual to have someone point to the words to remind me that perhaps I needed to be a little gentler, kinder, or more patient.  Sometimes I’ll get wound up about something (don’t we all?) and think about how I need to really let so-and-so know how it is in no uncertain terms. Then I’ll pass through the dining room and feel a little ashamed of my thoughts. 

Just as importantly, the verbal reminder prompts us (me anyway) to actually speak more loving words, give more compliments, use more courtesy words, and watch my tone of voice. In my case, sometimes the people I love the most end up getting the leftovers, so to speak, so lately I’ve been working on changing this. Saying, “I love you. You’re the best!” is a frequent phrase. So are, “You look nice,” “I’m glad you’re in my life, ” or “I’m proud of you.” No need to go on and on about it. I think everyone gets the picture.

Speaking of pictures, I love the way the phrase looks so much (white letters again a russet red wall) that I snapped a photo of it and will upload it just as soon as I locate the cord. Hmmmm. I guess my wonderful, handsome, sexy, generous husband must have put it away somewhere. See, I told y0u I was working on speaking love. Try it. You’ll be pleased and perhaps surprised at the element of peace it will bring into your home.