Gathering: Homespun Essays from Beech Tree Lane

“Hang in there!”

“You got this!”

The encouragement invasion. They used the “#speak life” made popular through social media and song. The singer knows the truth. Words build up. Words tear down. These kids and their leaders were working to speak words that bring life to their friends, family members, even to their frenemies.

Mind you, these were elementary and middle schoolers. They hear the not-so-kind words every day. There is teasing. There is bullying. Sometimes it’s a fine line. But these kids met the challenge to dare to do the nice thing.

Coexisting with kindness.

A town employee found a note on her office door that said “You are amazing!” “The note on the door … should make us feel amazing,” she said.

“We just want to inspire other people to be nicer,” one youth group member said. Why would we want it any other way? Words give life. Create a good thing this day.