the sweetest sound

"Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body." Proverbs 16:24

What is the sweetest sound or word to you?

According to Dale Carnegie a person’s name is the sweetest sound. Believing this, i try to call our students by their name.  Sometimes i create tips to  help me remember, such as those with a first and last name that could easily be switched —Thomas Martin or Martin Thomas. My tip here is what would i name my child.  It would be Thomas, which was true for him.  So, when Thomas checked out recently, my calculating brain searched out his name, and i cheerily said, "Thank you, Thomtin."  Thomtin???  What?? In my haste to address him, i twisted his names together.  Amused by the blunder i shared it with my co-worker.  When Thomas came to library with his class the next day,  Mrs. B. asked him a question.  And how did she address him?  You guessed it... Thomtin.

Chances are she never would have called him Thomtin, if i hadn't shared my story with her.  A small seed that planted a thought and then a response.  It's a powerful, funny and sometimes scary truth... the amount of influence our words and actions can have on another.

Father, help me to never doubt or forget the power of my words. As well as the soil or tone they are planted in to others. 

we are loved and chosen by God,

may we live, love, do and speak like we believe it,

veneal