"Talk nice to each other!" I say for the thousandth time to my children. Well it feels like the thousandth time anyway. We go round and round about this. I explain to them how much better it will go for them if they ask nicely for things or just simply spoke in a pleasant manner to one another. You know what I have discovered? Adults need the same advice.
I don't know about you but I respond so much better to a pleasant word than to a demanding or condemning word. The same lesson we try to teach our children as they interact with their siblings or even other children they come into contact with is the same lesson that we adults need to heed also.
Some days it may seem like you are just being polite, but the person to whom you are speaking may be going through an unusually difficult circumstance and your kind word may make the day a bit easier for them. That waitress you just said thank you to or the cashier that you just asked how his day was may have been the only nice thing they heard from someone all day. People in the service industry unfortunately know too well the critical nature of people. Be different. Use kind words.
As my kids are coming to the end of their year of dance classes a thought came to mind. I thought it would be nice to give their dance teachers something to show appreciation for their work and dedication to my little ones this year. Just as quickly as that thought came to my head another followed that they already know they are appreciated and I don't need to find time in my already busy schedule to do something for them. It would be just one more thing on my to do list. For some reason this stuck out to me. I saw this thought for what it was. It was an attack to try to deter me from showing kindness to another. It is silly to think that even though the dance teachers might know they are appreciated, our simple act of kindness would not do them good and boost them up a little bit more. We all could use more boosting.
As you come into contact with others, make a point of speaking a kind word to another. One last scripture that I think sums up this thought very nicely is Proverbs 16:24, "Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones."
great word for today!! and, i can promise you, 99% of the time when i'm instilling some value or lesson into my children, i really can hear the Lord saying, 'Yes, Kristen, you too!' parenting is such a treasure!
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kristen
As a nursing instructor recently asked (retorically), what kind of nurse (or person) do you want to be? One who BRINGS life into the room? Or one who SUCKS life from the room? Kind words...important to remember!
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