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| “Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.” |
| —Proverbs 12:25 |
The effect a few kind words can have a startlingly positive effect.
Deep inside, my dad always thought of himself as less than worthy because he never finished high school. Truthfully, he was a very wise man who had more common sense and practical life experience than most.
He taught me to treat everyone the same. He especially told me to make friends with what he called “the little people—people like you and me.” My dad was referring to the people who do ehat he called “the real work”: the maintenance and cleaning crew, the security guards, the technicians who keep the machinery running, all the support people who work almost silently behind the scenes. And, he also taught me to treat everyone with kindness.
Once I was at the insurance company where I was employed, working late at night, when one of the cleaning crew came around the corner and startled me. He quickly apologized. Just as quickly, I assured him I was the one at fault. After all, at this time in the middle of the night, I was the one intruding into his work space.
Then, I felt a nudge from the Holy Spirit. “I hope you know how much we all appreciate what you do every night,” I told him. “It is really helpful to work in a clean workspace. Thank you for your hard work.” Then, I asked him what his name was.
He told me his name and said, “Thank you.” Then, he went on his way. In a moment I heard him begin to whistle a little tune.
Soon, whenever I encountered a member of the maintenance or cleaning crew, I would be greeted with a smile and a cheerful, “Hello, Mr. Wilson.” I would ask the person's name and also ask him or her to please address me by my first name. “Please call me ‘Dean’,” I would say.
It wasn’t long before I knew the names of every member of the maintenance and cleaning crew. When we would encounter each other, we would exchange a few words of conversation. I began to learn about their families and what they were interested in doing when they weren’t at work.
One day, several years later, one of the cleaning crew appeared at the door of my cubicle. I invited him to sit down. With tears he told me his wife had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and asked me to please pray for her. I bowed my head, laid my hands over his, and prayed.
As the weeks passed, I would seek him out for a report on his wife. I kept praying as she had surgery, chemo, and radiation.
Then came the day when he joyfully reported that his wife had been declared cancer free. A few months later, right around Christmas time, he appeared at the door to my cubicle with a sweet-looking woman at his side. “I wanted you to meet my wife,” he said with pride in his eyes.
Remember how this story began? All I did was heed my earthly father’s instruction to treat everyone the same and with kindness. And, when my loving heavenly Father nudged me, I obediently responded.
You see, there is nothing special about me—nothing whatsoever. I was just acting as an emissary of our Great King, Jesus.
Notice what King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 12:25:
Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.
As we begin a new day, let’s determine to speak many more kind words in order to build each other up and to build up everyone around us. Doing this will surely make our Father smile.
