“The one who guards his mouth preserves his life; The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.” (Prov. 13:3)

A group of frogs was hopping through the forest when two of them fell into a hole in the ground. The frogs quickly gathered around the hole. Seeing how deep the hole was, they told the two who had fallen in that they would never be able to get out. Those two ignored their comments and continued their efforts to climb out of the hole. Meanwhile their friends urged them to quit since getting out would be impossible.

Finally, one of the trapped frogs accepted the advice of the others and stopped trying to jump out and immediately died. In the meantime the crowd continued to shout down to the remaining frog to give up as well and accept his fate. However, this frog continued to try and free himself and eventually succeeded.
After he reached the top and joined the others, they asked him, “Why did you continue jumping? Did you not believe us?” To which the little frog answered, “I am nearly deaf and so I thought you were yelling words of encouragement to me!”

The story teaches us an important lesson: our words have the power of life or death. A word of encouragement to one who is distressed can edify and help him get through the day. Conversely, a sharp criticism can “kill” one who is already discouraged.

Have a word that gives life to those who cross your path. Words have power and we don’t realize their potential for positive effect in someone’s life. Unfortunately, it is also very easy to discourage someone using just words. People who encourage others are special. Let’s try to be this kind of special person with others.