August 15

Written by Bill Grandi on August 15th, 2019

My title for this devotion is Encouraging Words vs Discouraging Words.

“Home, home on the range/Where the deer and the antelope play/Where seldom is heard a discouraging word/And the skies are not cloudy all day.”

WOW! Talk about a song we wish could be true! We could live all day, every day without one word of discouragement being said. I read that the night President Lincoln was shot they found some interesting items in his pockets: 2 spectacles, a lens polisher, a pocket knife, a watch fob, a handkerchief, a leather wallet containing a five-dollar Confederate bill, and 8 newspaper clippings, including several that praised him and his policies. Seemingly normal stuff, except for the Confederate bill and the newspaper clippings. Was the latter there because he needed to hear good things? Was he a bit discouraged from the long, drawn out war between two factions of his beloved nation? Did he need the encouragement? Did he read them to Mrs. Lincoln out loud as they dressed for the play? ‘Course we will never know.

But there is something to be said about encouraging words. Proverbs 15 has several references to this. “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” (v.4). “The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the heart of fools.” (v.7). “A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.” (v.13). But maybe the best is this one: “To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!” (v.23).

There is no doubt our words make a difference. How am I at spreading encouraging words? There are some whose day is made by a kind or encouraging word. The opposite is also true. Some people are hurt deeply, even destroyed, by unkind words.

“Father, help me to check my words before they leave my lips. May I speak words of encouragement, not words of discouragement to others. I never know if that may be me some day who needs those kind words.”

 

2 Comments so far ↓

  1. Ryan S. says:

    I second your prayer Bill, I know there are times where the words that leave my mouth are not encouraging.
    Encouraging words go a lot further with influencing positive change than discouraging words for sure.

  2. Diane Ronzino says:

    Oh, I Amen your prayer!