Sometimes the Simple Things We Say Mean the Most!

Yesterday my team had a major project with a deadline of closing time.  It’s something we had been working on for about a week, but my boss was putting on the pressure (understandably so) and we needed to get it done YESTERDAY!  Fortunately I have an amazing media team and we managed to pull it all together in time, even though the last hour or so was very stressful.


I compared the final hours to the final moments of labor.  When it comes down to it you just have to push until you birth the thing.  We were all relieved when we were finished and could go home knowing that was checked off our list.

This morning I came into the office, and thanks to my lovely new spam free email address I only had about four emails in my inbox.  Two were negative about something the other person felt was wrong.  (Note I said felt... meaning myself and others don’t necessarily agree with the assessment and majority rules.)  These emails left me a bit frustrated, but I just moved on to read the others.  The third email was a benign work thing to take care of.  The fourth turned out to be a defining moment in my day.

The fourth email was from a co-worker who took the time to praise me and my team for the work we had done on the project we just finished.  She then proceeded to thank me for all I do for our offices and the church.  This short, but very sweet email made all the frustration of the first two I read melt away.  It was at that moment that I was reminded that it’s the simplest thing that we can say to people that often mean the most.

On my Mom’s birthday and I was talking with a friend about her and they looked at me and said, “I’m sorry your Mom died.  That really sucks.”  As simple as those words may seem to anyone else they meant the world to me.  

It’s the simple things that we don’t say that are often the most impactful.  The words of appreciation, care, concern and identification with another person’s situation often mean more than anything else we could think to say.  

I find it ironic that though my main love language is words of affirmation I often forget how much they mean to me.  It’s so easy to get caught up in our day to day lives, our deadlines, our schedules... always running... and forget to say the words that could mean so much.  We even forget how much we need to hear those words because we are just too busy.

I must confess sometimes I don’t say the things I should or I would like to because I’m afraid of how the other person will react.  Or even because I think it won’t matter as much to them as it would mean to me.  

So here’s my challenge to you.... don’t be afraid to say what you’re feeling.  (I’m now looking at myself in the mirror and giving myself this pep talk as well!)  You never know how it could totally change someone’s day!