Did You Hear What You Said?

Have you ever noticed how many things we say simply because we’ve heard them our entire lives?

We repeat them.

We quote them.

We pass them on.

And rarely do we stop long enough to ask:

Does that actually make sense?

Take this one:

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

Why?

Who decided the goal was one glass of lemonade?

If life gives me lemons, why am I stopping at a pitcher?

Why not open a lemonade stand?

Why not create a business?

Why not teach others how to do the same?

Why not build something that creates opportunity for others?

Somewhere along the way, we accepted survival as the goal when perhaps multiplication was the lesson.

Then there’s the one people love to say:

“When it rains, it pours.”

Maybe.

But rain also waters seeds.

Rain helps things grow.

Rain prepares the ground for harvest.

What if what looks like a storm is actually nourishing something you’ve been praying for?

Then there is this classic:

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Does it?

Not automatically.

What doesn’t kill you can leave you bitter.

It can leave you angry.

It can leave you fearful.

It can leave you stuck.

Strength is not the result of surviving something.

Strength is the result of learning from it.

In fact, if the lesson was never learned, life has a funny way of bringing the test back around.

Different season.

Different people.

Different circumstances.

Same lesson.

And then there is my personal favorite:

“If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.”

Well, yes.

Life is made up of one thing after another.

That’s called living.

There will always be another responsibility.

Another challenge.

Another opportunity.

Another lesson.

Another decision.

The question isn’t whether there will be another thing.

The question is how we choose to respond when it arrives.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that some of our most common sayings are not wisdom.

They are simply repeated thoughts that have gone unquestioned for generations.

And maybe that’s the lesson.

Not everything we hear deserves to be repeated.

Not everything we repeat deserves to be believed.

Wisdom is not found in saying what everyone else says.

Wisdom is found in thinking about what we’re saying before we say it.

So the next time you hear yourself saying:

“When it rains, it pours.”

Pause.

Maybe the rain is watering something you’ve been praying would grow.

The next time you say:

“If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.”

Pause.

Maybe that’s not frustration. Maybe that’s simply life continuing to unfold.

The next time you say:

“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”

Pause.

Ask yourself what the lesson is trying to teach you so you don’t have to keep repeating the same test.

The next time you say:

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

Pause.

Perhaps there is a bigger opportunity hiding in what you’ve been given.

Words matter.

Not because they magically change our circumstances.

But because they influence how we see them.

And how we see a thing often determines what we do with it.

So listen carefully to the words coming out of your mouth.

Some of them may be limiting your perspective.

Some of them may be shrinking your possibilities.

Some of them may be keeping you focused on the problem instead of the potential.

Did you hear what you just said?

Good.

Now say something that serves the season you’re trying to enter.

Journey Through The Seasons With Me.

Because sometimes the transformation is not in changing your circumstances.

Sometimes it begins by changing the conversation.

Journey Through The Seasons With Me.

To Everything There Is A Season.

It’s your season. Go and live.

Dr. Tasheka L. Green