Words

“Never lose a chance of saying a kind word.” — William Makepeace Thackeray

We live in a world where people don't always connect with other people, so we have a lot of lonely people on this planet, in our towns, in our neighborhoods, at our jobs, and maybe even in our homes. Last night, a friend of mine was telling me about a kid who was contemplating suicide, but he came to youth group and an adult leader went over to him and said hi, shook his hand, and asked him a little bit about his life. A year later, that kid was up telling other kids his story, and said that because the one adult came up and looked him in the eye and talked to him, he felt he had some hope in life, and that someone actually cared about him. We never know the impact of our words. Personally, I try to smile at people when I'm in stores. I look them in the eyes and smile. Many people respond with a smile back, some people are taken off guard and give me a weird look, and others give me a cross look and go on grumbling through their day. The last group of people always makes me laugh as I pass them. I probably should feel sorry for them because their lives must be miserable, but instead I just giggle to myself, usually inside, and think how thankful I am that my life has hope and that I can smile as I go through life. Even though I do work on this most of the time, I am going to be more intentional to take time today to smile at those I meet, say hi, and look them in the eyes. I think just even noticing people makes a difference, because may people don't even do that now days, as is obvious as you drive around this area! I'm also going to be more intentional to talk to those around me, at my job, in my neighborhood, in my church. Like the kid above, we never know when we might make a difference in someone's life, just because we took some time to care.

Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit—you choose. Proverbs 18:21