“A kind word can be as refreshing as a spring shower”
Last night when I was opening up a new sour cream container for our taco’s,
I noticed this little message on the inside label that sealed the contents.
How odd I thought, to see a ‘wonderful little blessing’ on a sour cream container.
We can find encouragement in the most unique and unexpected places.
If we look and pay attention.
Because of the ‘not so nice words’ I had as a child growing up,
it has been my goal to have kind words close to me most of the time.
It is just as easy to say something nice, as it is to say something mean.
Kindness is like a gift, to unwrap and behold its power, to ‘soften’ a hardened heart.
Proverbs 16:24: Kind words are like honey – sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.
When I was working full time at a pharmacy there was an senior gentleman who would often come in.
He was harsh and very rough around the edges.
I remember the first time I met him I said to him as he was leaving,
“Have a nice day” and he snapped back to me with his
snarly deep voice, “what is left of it”.
I quickly thought, wow you should be glad you have any days to be thankful about.
At age 80+ who knows how long he had left. I often think of him and his “what’s left of it comment”.
Is that similar to the glass half full or the glass half empty concept?
It is an attitude.
2 Corinthians 6:1 (a new testament book of the Bible)
As God’s partners, we beg you to not accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness
then ignore it.
How often have we been given a gift, and we put it away to ignore it
and never enjoy it as the giver intended us to do.
I was continually kind to the old man in the pharmacy each time he came in to purchase something. He eventually became kind to me.
It took time. I had to be patient.
Somehow I hoped that my ‘words’ would touch him
in the roughest place of his heart, and maybe he would “hear himself”.
Perhaps he did.
I won’t ever know.
But what I do know is kindness is something we all can do.
It is another one of those life choices we can make.
Proverbs 15:23 Everyone enjoys a fitting reply, it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time.
Sometimes telling someone to have a nice day, is JUST what they have been waiting to hear.
