I Kind of Hate the Phrase...

..."Actions speak louder than words." Ok, yeah. I get it. Put your money where your mouth is. Don't say something without backing it up. Faith without works is dead. But really, we have to remember that this phrase contains two key things: actions AND words. If you're running around doing things but you've never said the words that make the actions important, the actions won't have meaning. For example: If you give me a hug and to YOU that means "I sure do appreciate you" but you've never said those words to begin with- the action will have no meaning to me. It will be just another hug and I will be left feeling as though I'm not appreciated. "Actions speak louder than words, when words have been said" is more accurate for me. I don't know why I'm writing a whole ranting post here, but I've heard the phrase so much lately and I don't have the best track record with people who throw it around but don't live by it. Now I'm certainly not saying that I am completely innocent. What I AM saying is that it feels like people can take the phrase for granted sometimes and forget that words are just as important when paired with what you do. Just like we've learned, the old saying "stick and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is not necessarily true- words can almost do more lasting damage- we must also learn that words carry meaning, and actions are the follow through. I'm not denying the strength of the phrase either, don't get me wrong, so to wrap up, here's a mental image for you: I'm serving a tennis ball, and I toss it up in the air and let it drop. Toss it up, let it drop. But I never bring the raquet down and hit the ball across the net. The anticipation is there, you WANT me to follow through and hit the ball, but I don't. I recognize the power behind the follow through, but without the initial toss into the air, the follow through would be rendered useless.