With winter more present in Colorado than not, I spend most of my early mornings mummified in a fleece blanket on the corner of my sofa next to our gas stove. As I will my sleepy eyes to wake, I warm my hands around my cup of pumpkin chai (made with half almond milk and half Tazo pumpkin chai found here or here, if you’re interested) and stare at the Christmas tree in the dining room corner.
I’m a little sad remembering what used to be in that corner: a hearty houseplant. When we moved it to the sunroom so our Christmas tree could enjoy this ideal spot, it thrived for several weeks. But then came single digit temps. And you know what doesn’t thrive well in a Colorado sunroom with single digit temps outside? Houseplants. It’s long, slender foliage now droops lifeless.
Spoiler alert: If you don’t give plants the right growing conditions, they might end up looking like vegetation found in a Dr. Seuss book.
I think of this in regards to our words too, and how they have power to create conditions for thriving or wilting. Kind words are warmth and water, and toxic words a cold, Arctic blast.
I’m writing more about this at (in)courage today, about when to listen to hard words spoken to us and when to not. After all, some words may be difficult to hear, but they may still be for us. At other times, we need to make like a sprinter and run far, far away from those harsh words.
Before I head out on this Friday, I wanted to tell you about an Amazon deal you may want to run toward. Right now, you can purchase $15 in books at Amazon and use code GIFTBOOK to save $5 (expires Dec. 17). So you could grab my little book Girl Meets Change (grin) for under $8 as well as maybe this book (of which I’m a contributor) or this one (releasing this spring and written by a dear writer-friend). Save a little cash while also blessing the daylights out of a yourself or a loved one this Christmas.
Have a great weekend, m’loves! xo
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