"Anxious hearts are very heavy, but a word of encouragement does wonders." -The Bible
Today I'm sending a universal letter of encouragement because I think that people spend way too much time criticizing and way too little time encouraging the people around them.
I watched a movie last night on Netflix titled The Letter Writer. It was about an old man named Sam who lived in a nursing home and wrote encouraging letters. He then chose names and addresses out of the phone book to send them to. Sometimes he would write cards and then hand them out to people as he walked around. If he got the feeling that you needed encouragement when you walked past him, you got a card.
One of his encouraging letters was sent to a troubled teenage girl and it changed her life. Although he didn't know her, Sam's words touched Maggie's heart because they were positive words. When all she heard was criticism from the people who claimed to love her, Maggie read the words in Sam's letter with heartfelt joy. Finally someone was telling her that she was worth something and that she had a bright future.
I couldn't get through this movie without crying. The lesson in it is something we all need to be reminded of. There is great power in encouragement. Positive words can be life-changing. Do you speak words that motivate, compliment, and uplift, or are you more likely to dwell on the negative and voice criticism? Would it hurt to notice the good things about people and tell them?
Sam knew the power of speaking life-building words. He sent encouragement out into the world everyday. And his words changed people for the better. If everyone worked that hard at building people up, we would live in a different kind of society.
Sometimes we do need to point out the negative ruts that we get into. We do need to point out wrong attitudes so they can be corrected. We can't always be focusing on good things because bad attitudes do exist. But when our lives are over, our biggest regrets will be the positive words we didn't say. No one ever regrets on their death bed that they didn't pound someone harder with criticism.
If I would ask you, who do you know that needs encouragement, someone will immediately come to mind. What can you do today to bring encouragement to a heavy heart?
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