Words of praise!

I think the words "I'm proud of you" are becoming an endangered sentence. I mean, who says that anymore? The thing is, a lot of problems come from people not showing that what someone has done has made them proud or meant something to them.

Parents to children: If you're a parent, can you even remember that last time you've told your child you were proud of them? When is the last time you thanked your child for doing the dishes, cleaning their room, finishing their school work, etc, etc...?

Wives to husbands: Have you EVER told your husband you're proud of him? When is the last time you said "Good job!" on a task you've given him?

All the times you DON'T tell a person these things, it simply adds to their heavy burden of questioning their "self worth" and frankly...it would seem you can't take enough time for a simple little sentence. It can certainly wear down on a person when nobody ever notices anything they do. Then what happens, you might ask? Well...they don't enjoy doing them anymore, and sooner or later simply cease from doing anything at all!

Words of praise are SO important. Especially with all the pressure everyone puts on people these days. If one thinks they aren't good enough already, never getting words of praise will just crush them.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

You like these types of things said to you when you've worked hard on something, don't you? How can we then to turn around and not give them to another person? How selfish.

I think two of the hardest sentences for me to say out loud are "I'm sorry" and "Good job!" The first, I've gotten so much better about...but the second is still hard. Probably because I'm not thinking of other people's feelings. Not thinking that they would like to hear those kind words that I always long for.

God blesses us when we have followed His guiding...should we, then, not bless other people when they have done something worthy of praise? To be Christ-like, we must do what Christ would do.