As a youth, David loved nothing more than to play the piano. He spent hours at it and would dream of one day becoming a famous concert pianist. His father thought otherwise and one day while David was practicing he said with disgust to his son, “You’re such a mama’s boy.” David never played the piano again.
On her 16th birthday, as she was getting ready to celebrate with her friends, Julie’s mom told her, “Don’t bother with makeup. You’re never going to be pretty enough to get a boy interested in you.” Shattered, Julie never dated and lived vicariously through romance novels.
George, middle aged and homeless, sat on a cardboard mat outside the public library with a coffee tin next to him and a sign that read “I am Blind. Please Give.”
Unmoved, most people passed by him without giving; only a few gave coins plopped carelessly on the makeshift mat. Business is slow today for George. Then out from the crowd George hears the hard sound of dress shoes on asphalt and cement walk over and stop in front of him. He reaches out and feels the shoes with both hands: small, high heels, shoelaces tied in a bow. ‘Must be female’ he accurately concludes. The woman pulls out a felt marker from her purse and inscribes something on the other side of the sign then puts it down next to George and walks away. To George’s astonishment large numbers of passersby begin offering so many coins that he can hardly keep up with the donations. “What did she write on my sign?” he wondered! Just what did she write? This is what she wrote: “It’s A Beautiful Day, But I Cannot See It.”
Wise King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 15:4, “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.”
The words we use reveal something about us. What will be your effect on your world?
Tim Hall is pastor with Victory Way Church in Quesnel.