My birthday was two days ago. Which means that all of facebook knew it was my special day. I got well wishes from all over the United States and from all different seasons of my life. I was grateful for each one.
In Proverbs 18:21 it says that "the tongue (our words) has the power of life or death". If you've lived any length of time, you know that wisdom to be absolutely true. There have people who spoke words to you that crushed your spirit, that killed a dream, that destroyed your confidence. In those moments you felt like you died a little inside.
And hopefully you've had some moments where people spoke words of encouragement, or hope when you were feeling down, or they took time to celebrate what you meant to them and it lifted your soul. As you walked away from that conversation you soared. You felt encouraged and grateful. Life.
Our words have great power. And . . . it really doesn't take that much to speak life to others. Simply respond to the prodding God gives you.
So about 11 am on my birthday we got a phone call. It was from one of my youth group "kids" (I was still a kid then) when I was first a youth pastor some two decades ago, fresh out of college. She's now has four kids of her own & has moved cross country.
She said that she had just been thinking about us & then saw my birthday pop up on facebook and decided to make a telephone call. She proceeded to share about the impact we had made on her life and how grateful she was for it (thank you God for using two twenty-two year olds who knew next to nothing!!). And those words breathed life into me.
Who can you breathe words of life into this week? What phone call do you need to make, or email do you need to write? It doesn't have to be long. Just respond when prompted & share your heartfelt thought.