A Kind Word

A Kind Word

Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket.

Proverbs 25:11

While it is important to show love and kindness to those around us, we don’t have to limit caring expressions to people we know. I remember a church trip I took with my preteen son and daughter two summers after my husband died. The trip was supposed to be a gentle respite in the midst of my new status as a single parent, but frustration after frustration stormed into each hour.

At the end of that first stress-filled day, I stood with my children in the restaurant washroom line, close to tears. How am I going to do this single-parent thing, Lord? I inwardly prayed. I can’t handle even a goofy trip. This is hopeless. I’m hopeless.

Just then one of the grandmothers from the Spanish-speaking group on our bus walked past us. All day she had watched as I looked around frantically for my son, who was prone to wander away, and stumbled over my daughter, who was so frightened by all the strange sights she clung to my side. As the grandmother passed me, she patted my arm and said in halting English, “You good mama.”

Just three words: “You good mama.” But it was just as if God had spoken and said, “You are not hopeless. I’m here with you, and you will do just fine.”

Suddenly, I wasn’t quite so exhausted, and my fears had been replaced with the hope that maybe, just maybe, I could pull off this single-parenting thing after all.

Even though that scene occurred years ago, those three words provided a raft for me as I navigated single-parenting’s rough waters. —SANDRA

Lord, I do want to say the right thing to someone who needs encouragement. But I’m prone to think my sentences need to be long and my words eloquent. Since I don’t speak like that, I tend not to say anything. Help me to remember that even the simplest words can carry great power when spoken with your love.

A pleasant word is a bright ray of sunshine on a saddened heart. Therefore, give others the sunshine, and tell Jesus the rest.

—MRS. CHARLES E. COWMAN (1870–1960), MISSIONARY TO CHINA AND JAPAN AND AUTHOR