Words of Affirmation

During our time at Nuevos Amigos, we were asked to put on a workshop for the parents of the children enrolled in the school. Apparently, most of these folks did not have good examples to follow and really don't possess some of the basic skills required for successful parenting. The presentation was based on The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman. There were over 80 parents in attendance, including many fathers, so we were very encouraged. We were also able to find the book in Spanish and hand it out to the staff and many of the parents, which was a big bonus.

One of the languages that children (and adults) feel love with is Words of Affirmation. These are words of encouragement for who you are, not what you have done. While preparing for the workshop, I was reminded of an experience that I later shared with the group.

When I was young, my parents used to have a bunch of their friends over periodically to eat and play silly games. One such game involved everyone secretly answering a question on paper and the others trying to guess their answer. The age old question came up "If you were stranded on a desert island and you could only take one thing, what would it be?" My Uncle Dwight said that he would take me and that it would never be boring! Maybe it was just a silly game, but his words demonstrated the value that he saw in me and I never forgot it.

The Bible says a lot about the power of the tongue. Proverbs 12:18 says this:

Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

And Proverbs 15:4 says:

The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.

Never underestimate the value in expressing words of affirmation to your kids, spouse or even complete strangers. You may never know what someone is going through and an encouraging word can be just what they need to hear. And they can last a lifetime. My Uncle Dwight is gone now, but I still remember those words spoken more than 30 years ago.