Oh, Our Words!

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."   ... Ephesians 4:29


*****

I don't know how this happened. Really I don't. 

But somehow I watched every single episode of Chuck again! 

I know, I know. But remember how I wasn't ready to let go? Well, immediately I re-watched the 1st episode just to ease my separation anxiety, my sense of loss of Chuck's dearly-loved characters. Then I thought, "Okay, just one more episode ... then one more ... then-- (you know how that goes...). Then one night I came to myself at the end of episode 91 and wondered how did that happen again? 

Yes, Chuck is that good. (And ok, in my defense, I did fast-forward through many stressful scenes, listened to some while in the kitchen, cooking, and fell asleep late at night during a couple others. Alas.)

And what did I do for fun last night at Netflix? I read through 16 pages of glowing, passionate reviews by my fellow Chucksters.

Oh, how I crave positive words! After typical weeks of sneaking peeks at message boards for varieties of topics ("keeping my fingers on the pulse of this sad world for the sake of relevancy in my blog" as I prefer to call it), how refreshing to see people gushing, overflowing with positivity. 

I can't remember where I even last saw such a thing.

At least 99% of the all-across-the-board-in-age reviewers raved about Chuck as I have, choosing words I've spoken, expressing my same thoughts and heart-felt reactions.

If only ... If only kind, uplifting, encouraging words flowed like this everywhere. How different our world would look!

In fact, this experience made me recall the public library in the tiny log cabin of our tiny mountain town where I moved to my senior year of high school. The librarian was a classmate's  mom and she used to show me his baby photos, much to Ben's horror. heh. Anyway, she was a hoot to speak with and when three years went by, I saw her at a community function where she, sitting beside her friend, told me, "Ben said you'd gotten married and are living over on Cedar Street now. I told him, "I'm sure Debra's decorated her house to look just like Springtime."'

Then she turned to her friend and told her, "She has such a sunny disposition and I can just picture her rooms reflecting sunshine."

Now, the thing was, my house had lots of dark earth colors (this was 1979, after all) and I'd not felt satisfied with them. And you know? Ben's mom's words made me want rooms that reflected Springtime. Suddenly the clouds cleared and I knew surrounding myself with bright, golden colors would make me feel happier. 

And when I returned home that day I rearranged my living room. I replaced some dark items with colorful ones hidden inside my cupboards and I made plans. I asked myself, "How can I bring more color into our home?"

Yes, all that from kind, uplifting words. Words remembered, still close to my heart all these 32 years later.

Never, ever dismiss the importance of speaking positive, encouraging words into peoples' lives. And never take good words for granted, even if you find them in a message board, for nowadays, positive words are becoming altogether too rare.

***********


"There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."   ... Proverbs 12:18

"For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit ..."   1 Peter 3:10



*******




Of the many (many!) Chuck reviews, this was my favorite. I nodded wildly in agreement, laughed, and thought it nearly said it all:



"WARNING - THIS SHOW IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO WATCH THIS WHEN ANY DEADLINES IN YOUR CAREER, RELATIONSHIP OR FAMILY LIFE ARE EMINENT. Seriously, I've recommended this show to five of my friends since I found it on Netflix. Everyone's experience has been the same as mine... dragging into work after being up half the night, knowing it will be hell to pay in the morning but.... "maybe just one more episode". Every character is explored over the five year run and its difficult not to fall in love with all of them. Of course the twists and turns of the two main characters, Sarah and Chuck (beauty and the nerd), is the stuff of romantic comedy legend. The writing is the best I've experienced in many years as the plot switches seamlessly back and forth between the world of super spies and their villainous adversaries, and the daily grind of life at the "Buy More" (a take-off on a certain consumer electronics chain) with each of these parallel universes swinging wildly from madcap zany to deeply heartfelt. The performances from every actor are rock solid and consistently, exuberantly believable (a difficult feat over a five year stretch for any actor). Hard to single anyone out but I found Adam Baldwin's take of "John Casey" especially delicious! Finally, there's guest appearances from some really terrific actors to add to the mix. I have completed four seasons in nearly as many weeks and already feel the onset of withdrawal with only thirteen episodes left in season five. These characters have become so real it's difficult to let go of them. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but I might need a "Chuck" support group when it's all over."