Encouraging

I have always considered myself a positive person.  I try to encourage others and I try to speak positive words.  I have always thought my dear husband was more of a negative person.  However, he thought he was a positive person and I was a negative person.  Oh boy.  Recently we had a talk about this.  At first I was becoming offended.  How dare this negative person say I was negative.  But the more we listened to each other the more we both realized, we desperately need to work towards being more positive.

Right now I am reading "A Woman's Secret to a Balanced Life" by Lysa TerKeurst and Sharon Jaynes.  Something Sharon mentions really touched me.  

"Imagine this scenario: Your child gets up in the morning and dresses in a shingled outfit of paper, much like Post-It notes.  Every time you question your daughter's worth, criticize her, make her feel guilty, incapable, insufficient, or unattractive, a piece of paper drops to the ground.  When you see the slip of paper flutter to the floor, perhaps you realize the effects of your words and try to stick the paper back on with a positive word.  However, it won't stick.  The child goes off to school and hears more discouraging words.  Finally, at the end of the day, she comes home, exposed and insecure- and rightly so.  Her soul stands naked."

Wow.  That is really powerful.  Don't just think of our daughter's but also our sons, spouse, sisters, friends, neighbors, everyone we deal with.  If they are clothed with sticky notes and our negative words strip them of those notes, they will stand emotionally naked and vulnerable.  Sometimes we do need to correct our children or tell our husband how we feel.  But we can still do it without being negative or hurtful.  We can still encourage and lift them up with positive correction and love.  

Today I want to encourage you to speak only positive words to everyone.  As I tell my children, if you are tempted to use any negative words, just keep quiet until you can speak positive.  Believe me, I am working on this right there with you!