Dale Carnegie told the story about a young man in London back in the 1800's who wanted to be a writer, but everything was going against him. He was in and out of school. His father had been thrown into jail because he couldn’t pay his debts. The young kid finally got a job pasting labels on bottles of glue in a rat-infested warehouse. He slept at night in a small little attic along with two other kids from the slums of London.
He wanted to be a writer, but he had so little confidence in his ability to write that he sneaked out in the middle of the night and mailed his first manuscript so that nobody would see and laugh at him. Story after story that he submitted was turned down by the editors. But finally, a day came that one of his stories was accepted. He wasn’t paid anything for it, but this one editor had praised him. He was so thrilled and excited that he walked around the streets of London with tears in his eyes.
That one positive word changed his whole life. His name was Charles Dickens. (Dale Carnegie, “How To Win Friends and Influence People,” page 253)
It is amazing to me what a simple word of encouragement can do for someone. It can be life changing.
Maybe that is why the Apostle Paul exhorted, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.” (I Thessalonians 5:11)
Today let’s remember that a simple word of encouragement can make all the difference in the world for someone.