Encouragement Never Hurts

I met a sweet young lady the other day, about 14, who told me that she was very shy and that it was difficult for her to talk to people she didn’t know. She let me know that it took a lot of courage to come up and speak to me. During our brief conversation she told me that she was shy five or six different times. Knowing I only had her attention briefly I chose to leave her with a different kind of thought than what she might have been hearing all of her life. I said “Although you might be shy now, you probably won’t be shy when you get older. You are as cute as a button and most people are going to be happy to talk to you. Just remember that the next time you have something to say to someone you don’t know I’ll bet it will be much easier for you than it was before. Besides you are well spoken and a good conversationalist.”

Earlier that same week I was helping someone who was struggling with a task and had decided to give up and quit. I said “You’re almost there; I really think you can do it!” She decided to give it another try and this time she succeeded. The comment back to me was “I would have quit without your encouragement.”

Remember that everyone you meet could use a little encouragement, it should be relevant and sincere and that is usually pretty easy. You never know how far a compliment will go or just how much it might mean to someone. I have many opportunities to view items made by my customers as I’m sure you do if you do any teaching or belong to a turning club. It’s pretty easy to find something nice to say about every single item and if that encourages the maker to try again and do better, I’m all in favor of that.

This is incredibly important in family situations, but you already knew that. And I’m not just talking about children and grandchildren. If results are less than stellar I often use phrases like “that was a great effort”, or “that was a huge improvement over the last one.” I can’t tell you how far a sincere compliment goes toward improving someone’s day. Simple things like “Honey, that outfit really makes you look good,” or “have you lost weight?”, or “That just might be the best meal I’ve ever had” if presented as a sincere compliment can be worth their weight in gold. Complements to coworkers when deserved go a long way toward promoting cooperation and teamwork. I’m not suggesting you pay a compliment when one isn’t deserved, only that you verbalize something positive when you get the chance.

Each time we speak we can choose to build someone up, or we can choose to tear them down. I think you will find that your world becomes a much better place when you choose to build people up through sincere compliments and words of encouragement. Because wherever you go there you are.

This is my inspiration:

Proverbs 31:26 KJV

She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.