A simple test on Facebook last Saturday got a response from a woman hiding in a closet 4000 miles away!
Let me explain. In the spring, I love to putter in my country garden in the foothills of the Washington Cascades. Saturday there would be no puttering, just steady rain.
An obvious post to facebook might have been, “Ugh! It’s raining AGAIN!!!! I wanted to weed the garden today!!!! No fair!
Or perhaps, I could have gotten a bit cleverer. “If it would stop raining, I’d stop sputtering. I would go to my garden to do some puttering.”
Or I could have hidden my displeasure with a hopeful “When the rain goes away, I will go out and play.”
Or maybe I could have sequestered my frustration in an attempt to be intellectually complex. “The sky continues to hover millimeters above the sodden-earth steadily letting go of all restrain so that it obfuscates any rational attempt to put on one’s work clothes and galoshes to sally forth and do the bidding of the weed-infested garden in a manner that would keep the gardener’s attitude upbeat while the body remained reasonably dry and protected.
Oh gag! Please!
I might have considered all these posts, but instead I did the noble thing—occasionally we all do, right? I looked at the weather and decided to post an upbeat mini-blog about how much I was enjoying the day. I would capture the imagination of the reader by painting a word picture of a luxurious moment for those who could not join in my cozy-cabin getaway.
Here’s what I wrote.
“In the stillness of a Saturday afternoon, wood fire, jazzy music, raindrops coming and going to the rhythm of the clouds. Three very brief sun breaks! Momentarily. Little moments with daring shadows. Pure relaxation. Luxury…pure luxury!”
Yes, I still got some comments complaining about the weather as well as a few weather reports,
but what I cherished most were three comments that went like this—
“Love your writing.”
“Sounds cozy.”
“Lovely expression, Marlee!”
It sent me thinking. How was it that I positively influenced three people, one of whom was hiding from a hurricane, by turning my disappointment into a jazzy, fire-crackling, relaxing moment to cherish!
Could you and I be known on Facebook as the ones who always post a word picture that uplifts the soul and brings joy to the heart?
Could you and I establish a reputation as the go-to-person when a facebook friend needs a word that would give fresh perspective to the everydayness of life? Or perhaps when she just wishes to escape thinking about the possibility of losing her life, her home, and her family through a violently erratic weather system?
Marlee Huber ~ Advocating for Your Flourishing Life.