Proverbs 16:24 “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.”
Proverbs 25:11 “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.”
A few weeks ago my husband and I stopped at a local honey store and bought a container of clover honey and a jar of sage honey. Bennett’s Honey Farm is our favorite place to buy and sample good quality honey. I picked up a book on one of the display racks and started to read about all of the amazing healthful advantages from honey. Here are a few of the reported health benefits:
- B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, and amino acids, are all found in honey.
- Minerals include calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, sodium, and zinc.
- Honey is a natural sweetener, has antioxidants, and is free of fat and cholesterol.
- Need more energy? Honey can combat depleted stress hormones.
- In need of better sleep at night? Honey can produce better sleep and immunity repair.
- Sluggish metabolism? Honey fixes that too!
- Healing properties. Have a wound? Put honey on a gauze, and tape it over the wound. It has natural healing and fighting infection properties.
I don’t know if all of these touted health benefits from honey are true or not, but Solomon, in Proverbs 16:24 references the importance of gracious words being like the sweetness of honey – connecting with our heart, our soul, and giving health to our whole body.
Are you in need of some encouraging words spoken just to you today? Do you have a particular need that words of encouragement from some friend will be like the sweetness of honey to your soul? Have you asked God to fill this need? Or have you asked God to point out who needs encouragement from you today? Maybe someone needs you to bless them.
I had the good pleasure of being blessed at church recently from words fitly spoken to me at just the right time! I went up to a friend to be an encouragement and check up on how she was doing, and much to my surprise, her words spoken to me came at just the right providential, from God, moment! I was feeling insecure regarding something, and God blessed me right through my friend’s words that were better than any health benefits from honey and were indeed right out of Proverbs 16:24 and Proverbs 25:11!
Hurtful words sting and cut to our core. A harsh tone in our words can be abrasive. Damaging a child’s self-esteem can last for the rest of his or her life by an impatient or lack of understanding grade school teacher’s words. I remember a particular teacher our son had, in third grade, criticized him for drawing the sun on his picture. She said he was too old to do that. In her estimation only younger children draw suns on their papers and that it was not acceptable for his age. He told me about it when he was in his twenty’s or thirty’s. It hurt him back then as a third grader, and he remembered it into his adult years. Words can build one up or tear them down for life.
Seek out who you can encourage today. Maybe you need to give words of praise and thanks for someone that has been a special “buddy strap” friend to you when you needed it most. Or there may be a friend that needs some one-on-one girl time together with just you. We need to be aware of who the Holy Spirit lays on our heart and mind and not ignore it.
Paul admonished the Ephesians in Ephesians 4:29, to speak words that benefit others, when he said: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Pray and seek out who you can be a blessing to today or this week, which will be encouraged by your words and your actions. Are you sensing any internal nudges suggesting someone that pops up in your mind? Who do you need to extend grace to instead of criticism? Who can you catch doing something right and complement them in their success? Who around you is going through a trial and tribulation that you have experienced as well? You will have just the right words to give support and to love on them as no one else can. Send a text, an email, a card, or make a phone call, and speak those words that will be sweeter than honey and apples of gold!
My prayer for today: “God, put on my mind who needs an encouraging word from me today. I want to speak words that will benefit someone. Who needs to receive a blessing from my mouth? Proverbs 11:25 states: “Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.” I want to be aware and used for your glory in uplifting my husband, my children, a friend, or stranger, in need of encouragement. I don’t have all of the answers. I so often see the glass half empty instead of half full. My lack of patience with others has caused me to be discouraged. You are so forgiving of me when I blow it, and I need to show more mercy and grace in return. Thank You for never giving up on me! I want You to give me gracious words sweeter than honey, and words that are fitly spoken like apples of gold in pictures of silver, as fits the occasion.”
Listen to Hawk Nelson’s song, “Words” www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8aPFiYNIN4