There is a story I remember from years ago that I think of often and try to live out. Whether it's true or not it speaks to the heart need of each of us. The story was told that a first grade teacher had each student take out a piece of paper, write their name on the top and pass it around. The assignment was for each student to write one nice thing about the person whose name was on the paper. Then the papers were returned to the children for them to keep.
The story goes that many years later they tracked down some of those students to see if they still had the paper and all of them still had them! A man had his in his wallet, tattered and torn. A woman had hers in her purse....even after all those years this piece of paper was important.
We are all needy, insecure, unsure of ourselves and in need of affirmation.
We need a kind word!
We need others to "see us," to affirm us, to encourage us. In many ways we are like a growing plant that needs water and a bit of fertilizer once in a while.
As I watch people around me I have found that one of the best things I can do is leave them with a kind word from our encounter...to tell them they are important, that God loves them, that I see them and care about them.
It was one of the things that made Jesus so magnetic. He affirmed each one as being important to God. He saw them. It's a small thing to do and most don't even try, but when we do...when we water the life of another they bloom!
Paul described it in this way,
Ephesians 4:29 Let no rotten word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
We all need encouragement, we all need grace. Make it your goal to water the lives of everyone you meet with a small, simple, kind word. You will be surprised at the response.
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