Four-Letter Words

I’ve been saying a lot of four-letter words lately. I can’t help myself. I didn’t used to be like this. In fact, it didn’t really happen all that much until I got my leukemia.

It’s not like I’ve never said them before, but now I have to say them to keep my sanity. They give me what I need to live my life.

And it’s not that I just say them–I think them. In fact, four-letter words seem to pop out of me like I have turrets or something. I can’t control it, or actually, I don’t want to control it.

Do you say four-letter words? I hope you do. They’re important. They add color to your life. The world would seem so bland and lifeless without them.

Brightening up a dark day

In fact, I’m not afraid to say that I love four-letter words. They have a way of brightening up a dark day. It’s especially important to say (and think) them in hard times. Sometimes, when I’m feeling particularly down, my wife has to say them for me. There are moments when I forget to say them, but those are usually the very times I need to.

I care very much about my four-letter words. They keep me going. It’s odd though. It’s easy to say them when I least need to, and difficult to utter them when I need them the most.

Sometimes other people are kind enough to speak them to me. I’m so grateful when they do. Truth is, if I had no one around to say them, well, my four-letter words would have little meaning. It’s true. My life and yours would seem empty without them.

Guidance through difficult times

Sadly, for some, these four-letter words seem hollow, devoid of meaning. They don’t speak them because they don’t believe in them. But that’s tragically wrong. The words can help us through very difficult times and sometimes even save us.

They’re often hidden though, these four-letter words. We tuck them away in our daily speech seldom giving them much thought or recognizing their value.

Like in a Where’s Waldo game they’re hiding in plain sight, cloaked by the chaotic noise of our lives.

Have you found them yet? Did you see them? You might not have noticed them but they were there, like Waldo hiding inside a complex drawing.

The profound message of four-letter words

You’ve been reading them all along but I bet you didn’t even pause to contemplate their real meaning. These four-letter words are sometimes used in a mundane way to simply describe something, but they really carry a profound message.

Perhaps those of us with cancer need these four-letter words the most. In fact, I believe they are more important to us than we realize. Used properly, understood correctly, they can carry us through whatever lies before us.

My four-letter words of gratitude

Find them. Not only in this post but everywhere they pop up in your life. Hear them, think them, speak them.

Hope. Love. Live. Care. Kind. True. Good. Give. Life.