A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a
deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they saw how deep
the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead.
The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all
of their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as
good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were
saying and gave up. He fell down and died.
The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of
frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and
finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, "Did you not
hear us?" The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they
were encouraging him the entire time.
This story teaches two lessons:
1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to
someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day.
2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them.
Be careful of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path.
The power of words....it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging
word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of
the spirit to continue in difficult times.