Words.  They’re powerful tools.  I have pages of journals, notebooks, computer documents, paragraphs jotted my phone, post it notes and scraps of paper full of ideas, thoughts and verbiage that will never see the light of day.  I have shared words with paper that eyes will never see.  I have captions that I will never post and sentiments that I will never share.  I love the expression of words and the feeling of a pencil on paper, almost as much as I love creating with flowers.

Did you know that we’re held responsible for every word that’s left our lips?

“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” Matthew 12:36

The impact is a little word can be huge.  Think back to some of the significant speeches, sayings and phrases that have been turning points in your life.  They can hurt or they can build up.  I remember being new in the floral world, feeling like I finally found my direction and where I needed to be heading and almost instantly, some offhand comment by an unknowing sender crushed me.  They criticized my work and brought me instantly to my knees, ultimately surfacing all of my newbie fears and slowing the progress of my business for the next 1 ½ years until I realized they were in the wrong, not me.  It doesn’t do much good at this point to look back, but I do wonder how my journey might have changed.

“The soothing tongue is the tree of life, but the perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” Proverbs 15:4

This week, I saw my words on someone else’s website.  It’s a phenomena that I know many creatives experience.  And part of me loves that I’m inspiring someone else’s work.  But the other part of me feels robbed.  It’s like they took a little piece of my soul, a little part of my journey that I’ve worked so hard on and claimed it as their own.

I will never call this person out.  I will never tell who this person is.  They know who they are.  Maybe there are others out there that I simply haven’t stumbled across.  I can’t truly take credit for my talents, whether it be writing poetic expressions or creating elaborate works of floral art.  My talents come from our Creator.  They’re truly his gifts.  So perhaps my feelings are out of line.  Perhaps I should just give this person a hug and send some creative vibes their way.  I could hurt them with more words.  But if they’re not words of love, then they probably should just be kept to yourself.