Can our words make a difference? Consider this little story:

The Group of Frogs

As a group of frogs were traveling through the woods, two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs crowded around the pit and when they saw how deep it was, they told the two frogs that fell in that there was no hope left for them.

The two frogs proceeded to try and jump out of the pit. Over and over they tried and over and over they failed to get out.  The group of frogs at the top of the pit continued yelling out that they should just give up as they would never make it out.

Eventually, one of the frogs took heed to what the others were yelling and he gave up, falling down to his death. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. And again, the crowd of frogs at the top yelled that he should give up as he would never make it out.

The frog began jumping even harder and finally he made it out.

When he got out, the other frogs said, “Did you not hear us?”  The frog explained that he was deaf and couldn’t hear what they were saying but he saw the way they were yelling out to encourage him the entire time and that gave him the courage to keep going.

The moral of this story is that words can make a big difference in the lives of others. We should never discount how powerful our words of encouragement or discouragement will be on the lives of others. It’s important to think before we speak. We never know when our words will make the difference in someone else’s life. Maybe it won’t be the difference between life and death for them, but then again, maybe it will be.

We will never regret having been too kind or too encouraging to another.

Have a marvelous day!

~Amy Rees Anderson