You know those days when things are just... blah? Like nothing is really so awful that you can complain, but nothing really feels that great either?

Yeah, that was Tuesday morning.

Tuesday morning I learned a lesson that I am realizing I just very quickly forget: sometimes, the little things are the best things. Like those times, especially at a small school like Colorado School of Mines, when the day just kind of sucks, and then someone shouts out from behind "hey, Britt, how are you, haven't seen you all week!" Or maybe you are walking down the hall and you get a shiny white smile and a "hey been praying for you over that thing we talked about last week" from a friend who was having a rough day the last time you saw them. It is the things that seemingly don't matter, though they can change your attitude around in a second. They are little glimmers of happy and joy and EEEK in a day of just meh.

Sometimes, those little insignificant nuggets are just the ticket to a heart that is overflowing and a smile that once again feels like it can't be shaken.

That was this Tuesday afternoon.

I got to Mines Tuesday morning with plans to be VERY busy until noon, with a brief breather for a meeting with a favorite professor, and then more busy-ness until evening.

Classes in the morning (that's you, Senior Design) were... a little less than intriguing. That class and the associated recitation chugged along for three hours. Next up came a biomechanics design class that was fun and challenging, so the time passed a little more quickly. Once that class was over, myself and a few friends were at 4 hours and 15 minutes of class straight through. Don't get me wrong, I really do like being in classes, but that long in a desk can be a challenge for the kind of spirit I have. Finally it came time for my meeting with the prof, but my energy was drained alongside any drive to be my usual perky chatter box. On the walk over, I considered asking him to reschedule for later when I would maybe feel a little more on the up and up, but decided to just put on a smile and make it work.

... Queue entering his office and immediately having my day turn around.

I walk up to the familiar CSM office door plastered with notices about not being an annoyance because ain't nobody got time for being annoyed by bratty college kids. Again, with a heart that was just not feeling confident or sure, that was hardly the glimmer of hope I needed before this meeting began.

I walk in, am standing a bit during the "hey, wow, haven't seen you in so long I can hardly believe it", and then sit because Lord knows my conversations, no matter my mood, are never of the short variety. Sooner than I had a chance to think up something to share from my worn down spirit, this professor begins to pour out encouragement after encouragement about things for which I believe I am so undeserving of such positive feedback.

I literally had one of those movie moments where you just feel speechless because the entire room seems so surreal.

A conversation that I expected to be me sharing about my summer and checking in on how his semester is starting off became one of him calling out my strengths in things I did not realize I was good at and taking time to feed my heart that he did not even know was so exhausted.

It was just some words. It was just a few things that he noticed in me, and rather than taking notice and letting that be the end, he took the very, very, appreciated time to share those thoughts with me. Unaware of what my response might be or where my heart was at in that moment, he boldly called out what he respects in me, and unknowingly changed my entire day (and week, and maybe month, but that is still TBD).

My whole stinkin' day got turned around because a guy at a school in an office on a Tuesday decided to share some thoughts he felt to be true.

That is the power we have at the tip of our tongue. We so often dream of changing the world, being remembered, making a difference, but the truth is that we all absolutely have that capability and we carry it with us everywhere we journey.

I cannot say for certain that everyone is encouraged by and encourages with words as I am and do. However, I do know that it cannot hurt to let those positive thoughts be known rather than to let them go unheard in the comfort of your mind.

We never know what the people in our lives are facing each day. We don't get to know what is going on in the world of that student on the sidewalk or at the lunch table or across the office desk, but we absolutely get to decide what our contribution to that world can be.

All of this to say, words are mightily powerful and that power can go one of two ways each time thoughts leave our mouths. I am deeply grateful God decided to put people in my life at Mines who are faithful in using those words so well. This season of life is crazy enough, and I know that I (and likely some of you other Orediggers can relate) could not thrive at this school without that provision.

I owe a very sincere thank you to Dr. A for being so real, so unapologetically himself, and so trusting in a God who knits stories together as a part of the huge plans He has for each of us. Seriously, you rock.