Shelf Life of Your Words

The end of kindergarten is a big deal. To commemorate this day, my grandson’s wise teacher asked the students to say positive things about their classmates. Our favorite six-year-old heard things like: smart, kind, fast, super cool, always loving us, fast, awesome friend, nice, and super-fast. (Apparently, they are impressed with his speed.) He left school that day with positive words rotating within his heart.

These words will most likely come to visit him when he’s discouraged, but how will it influence him to have the knowledge that his friends think he is kind, or an awesome friend, or that he is known for always loving them? Will it make him kinder? A better friend? More loving? Faster?

What we say matters. Not just for the moment, but for years after they are spoken.

A few months after my first husband passed, I felt concern whether I was doing a good job with decisions, finances, and the kids. One day as I rushed through the house with a full laundry basket, a single sentence flashed through my mind which gave me confidence.

“You’re doing a good job, honey.”

Months after Keith went to be with the Lord, words he frequently voiced still encouraged me. While alive, he affirmed me. He believed in me. He spoke the words I needed to hear. The fruit of those words live on in my life. I no longer doubt whether I am doing a good job. I borrow from the confidence he had in me.

How about you? What words would your friends, or your spouse, or your kids hear after you are gone. Will they be words that build, or will they be words that tear down?

Who can you encourage today? Who can you build up?

Strengthening the disciples was one of the Apostle Paul’s purposes as he visited early churches. How do you think he did it? What impact do you suppose it made? What if you set about with the purpose of strengthening others? What impact would you make?

“After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.” (Acts 18:33).