Kind words are like honey
Something that struck me on our recent RV camping trip was how many times I went into a small business — a gas station, store, RV camp office, and so on — and the owner or a worker had taped a sign to the door. While the signs varied in size and design, and ranged from handwritten notes on napkins to professionally-printed laminated signs with great artwork, they all had a common theme: Be Kind.
Has our society fallen to the point that we need to be reminded to be kind in all situations? Apparently so! All of these signs referred to the ongoing post-pandemic problem of businesses not having enough people who want to work at everyday jobs. The few people who care enough to work are often staying at the job for more than 40 hours a week, facing angry customers who are upset when they have to wait a little bit longer to be served.
Rather than being understanding, some people choose to lash out at the workers. It’s happening often enough that business owners need to remind people to have common courtesy and patience with those signs.
I have to admit that there were a few times on the trip where I was inconvenienced and had to wait for a while. Yeah, my mind usually started going down the path of “What is taking this idiot so long?!!!!”. But I kept my cool, and when I finally interacted with the employee, I was as nice and friendly as I possibly could be. That’s the Holy Spirit working in me now, keeping me from being my old snarky self. You know what? It made me feel better that I wasn’t getting upset about slow service.
I end today’s devotional with two things: a reminder to think of another person’s feelings ahead of yours, and these lovely words from Proverbs:
“Kind words are like honey— sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”
Proverbs 16:24 NLT