A Kind Word

Taken from the Live Like You Are Dying Daily Readings - Week 2; Day 2

“Kind words are like honey – sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” (Proverbs 16:24 NLT)

My neighbor walked out of her house the other morning looking like she had the world on her shoulders.  All the way to the car, her gaze was fixed on the ground and I could see the furrows on her brow from across the street.  She was so set on her moody thoughts that she didn’t see me pacing in front of my house cooling down from a morning jog.  My neighbor does a good deal of traveling, so I really meant it when I yelled over to her, “Hi Doris!  It’s so nice to see you around these days!”

Well you wouldn’t believe the change in countenance that swept instantly over her face.  I’ve never seen anything like it – such a dramatic change.  I could almost read her thoughts.  It was as if she were saying, “Your words are so much better than what I was just thinking about.  I think I’ll choose your version of this moment right now over mine!”

We underestimate the difference we can make in someone’s life, even a stranger’s, with a kind word.

We live such isolated lives these days behind invisible walls.  We walk by each other on the street, stand next to each other in the elevator, wash our hands beside each other in the restroom without a word or even an acknowledgment that the other exists.  So many people are afraid, trapped in their own private loneliness.  This isolation presents an incredible opportunity for those of us who are followers of Christ.  There’s enough time left to overcome that fear and reach out to someone with a smile and a kind word.

Yes, even a smile can do it.  When you smile at someone you are saying, “I see you there.  Whoever you are, and whatever you are going through, you are worth noticing.”  Try it and watch people light up.

John Kevin Hines is one of a handful of people who have survived an attempted suicide jump off the Golden Gate Bridge.  He claims to have told himself that if any one of the hundreds of people he rubbed shoulders with on the way to the bridge noticed he was distraught, and asked him what was wrong, he wouldn’t jump.  That’s all it would have taken – another human being to acknowledge his existence.  No one did.  On his way down he literally got a hold of his life and asked God for a second chance, which is miraculously what he got, or we never would have heard how he was a smile away from death.

It doesn't take much.  Just a few simple words to my neighbor that morning actually changed her countenance and outlook.  And, I can't help but believe that the smile on her face lasted at least a few blocks down the road.  Who knows, it might have just altered her whole day.

Reflection Questions -

1.  Think back to an occasion when someone spoke words of encouragement to you just at the time you needed them.  What difference did it make in your life?

2.  Is there someone you see regularly whose life you could affect by a kind word or two?

3.  Make it your goal to make eye contact with people you pass throughout the day and acknowledge their existence.  And say a kind word to those you see regularly like store clerks, bank tellers, waiters or neighbors.