by Tom Wacaster
Solomon
said, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of
silver" (Proverbs 25:11). An encouraging word can bring victory out of the
jaws of defeat. Legion are those who, exhausted and defeated, have rebounded to
great heights because of one little word of encouragement. I was reminded of
the power of encouragement this week when I came across this little story in
the archives of my file system:
It was the
day for field trials at the grade school. Various of the young boys were
competing with each other to excel in the various sports. The event at hand was
chinning or 'pull-ups.' The first boy strolled up to the bars and pulled
himself up ten times, rather confident he would win. His opponent, Kenneth,
came with less certainty. And when he had chinned the eighth time, he thought
he was beaten. Finally with much pain, he managed to slowly drag his chin above
the bars for the ninth time. And with a child's sense of tragedy, he thought he
could not even tie the other boy. But from somewhere down in the depths of a
child's courage, he pulled himself up one more time to tie his opponent. As
pain racked the entire upper half of his body, he lowered himself to quit. Then
a little girl's voice from the crowd, an admirer - perhaps his best girl - said
with tearful eyes and urgent throbbing voice above the shouts of the other
children, 'One more time, Kenneth!' Her voice was like an electric shock
across his face. From somewhere deep within his being there was a call as old
as humanity. Reserves of strength poured through his body. And with the
determined frown of a grown man he dragged himself up for the final and winning
pull-up and then collapsed happily on the ground.
Someone once
said, "We live by encouragement, and we die without it - slowly, sadly,
and angrily." A simple word of encouragement may very well make the
difference between defeat and victory, between failure and success. Parents who
constantly belittle their children, or preachers who habitually berate the
congregation seem to have lost sight of the power of a word of encouragement now
and then. Perhaps it would do all of us a world of good to capture the
sentiments of this poet:
YOUR EAR, A
SMILE, AND A HAPPY WORD
If you see
somebody having a rough day,
If you see
somebody struggling on the way,
If you see
somebody with a broken heart,
If you see
somebody whose world's come apart,
If you see
somebody who's tossed to and fro,
If you see
somebody whose back is bent low,
Give him
your ear, a smile, and a happy word,
And bid him
put his trust in the Blessed Lord.
If you see
somebody who's fighting with sin,
If you see
somebody despised by all men,
If you see somebody who has lost his way,
If you see
somebody with too much to pay,
If you see
somebody who's wandering about,
If you see
somebody who's struggling with doubt,
Give him
your ear, a smile, and a happy word,
And bid him
put his trust in the Blessed Lord.
If you see
somebody downtrodden and sad,
If you see
somebody that the world counts mad',
If you see
somebody confused and distraught,
If you see
somebody who's suffering for naught,
If you see
somebody whom life's left behind,
If you see
somebody with a troubled mind,
Give him
your ear, a smile, and a happy word,
And bid him
put his trust in the Blessed Lord.
If you see
somebody who's doing all right,
If you see
somebody whose burden is light,
If you see
somebody with no pain or care,
If you see
somebody who's loved everywhere,
If you see
somebody not troubled with sin,
If you see
somebody who's loved by all men,
Give him
your ear, a smile, and a happy word,
And bid him
put his trust in the Blessed Lord.
H. L.
Gradowith