A story for Friday: Use your words

For the last 8 (almost 9 years) I have had the honor and privilege of working with some of the finest, kindest, best people I’ve ever met. And over the next few days, many of them will begin to pack up their offices and head out for new opportunities.

The good-byes will be hard. And in a way, we’ve been saying them for a week now, in little ways, trying to prepare each other for this eventuality.

Yesterday, I got a few opportunities to talk to a few of my friends and coworkers one-on-one. And the most amazing parts of those conversations is that they didn’t make them all about themselves.

Instead, my friends spoke sweet words of affirmation over me. They reminded me why I do what I do. Over and over, like Aibileen in The Help, they said I had talent, that I was a hard worker, that I was fun to work with, a good editor, a kind friend, someone who loved well and was loved in return.

They didn’t have to say those things. They didn’t have to make a point to reaffirm me. But the point is, they did.

We can choose to speak life or death into others’ lives with our words. And yesterday, my friends chose to speak life.

What a great honor it has been to work alongside these people. I will always be grateful for the time God gave us together.

#wordsofaffirmation