"Saying Something Nice"

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:1-4 NIV).

I love the story I read the other day from an old file I had taken from a 1992 issue of Bits and Pieces. In it the story is told of a hunt during quail season in Georgia, as an Atlanta journalist met an old farmer hunting with an ancient pointer at his side. Twice the dog ran rheumatically ahead and pointed. Twice his master fired into the open air. When the journalist saw no birds rise, he asked the farmer for an explanation. "Shucks," grinned the old man, "I knew there weren't no birds in that grass. Spot's nose ain't what it used to be but him and me have had some wonderful times together. He's still doing the best he can -- and it'd be mighty mean of me to call him a liar at this stage of the game!"

You have heard it said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” There is a lot of wisdom in that truth. Certainly Paul must have had something like that in mind as he encouraged the Philippians to have the same mind as Christ in being tender and compassionate. Our reading today is a call for us to be encouragers of others.

It’s always been a little surprise to me when people seem to delight in hurting the feelings of others with their words. Of course, we expect children to exhibit that kind of behavior, however, as adults we ought to know and do better! And, you know, we all need that encouragement from time to time. News anchor Dan Rather admitted he was always fascinated by the sport of boxing, even though he was never good at it. "In boxing you're on your own; there's no place to hide," he said. "At the end of the match only one boxer has his hand up. That's it. He has no one to credit or to blame except himself." Rather, who boxed in high school, says his coach's greatest goal was to teach his boxers that they absolutely, positively, without question, had to be "get up" fighters. "If you're in a ring just once in your life, completely on your own, and you get knocked down but you get back up again, it's a never-to-be-forgotten experience. Your sense of achievement is distinct and unique. And sometimes the only thing making you get up is someone in your corner yelling."

Life can be a fight! Of course God is always in our corner encouraging us to persevere, but isn’t it nice to have others in our corner telling us not to quit! Some of the fondest memories I have of friends in my life were those who stood by me and told me to keep swingin’! Even today, there are those times when I feel like the old pointer. I can still give it a try, but as I said yesterday, I’m not as good as I once was. Oh, I am still as good once as I once was, but it is so wonderful to hear others as they encourage me. Let’s each commit ourselves to being people who know how to say something nice to everyone we meet along the way!