To Be...Kind and Tenderhearted

October 10
The smile of a child can melt the hardest heart. Haven't you seen it time and time again...you are in the grocery store or with a congregation of people with your infant held over your shoulder or sitting in a grocery cart and you realize they are making eyes at and tossing smiles to a stranger.  It's pretty difficult to not smile back at that child.

When our daughter lived in Nashville, one of the grocery stores had senior day and she said she would intentionally shop on that day with her infant son because of the joy he spread!

Smiling at people just comes naturally for me. I have a crooked tooth and a droopy corner of my mouth, not a picture perfect smile, but it still comes out.  Smiles can silently spread joy and we should throw them out freely, but the words which come out of our mouths need to be prayed over and directed by the Holy Spirit for they pack a powerful punch which can wound or heal and discourage or encourage.

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as its the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
Ephesians 4:29

Another translation: 
"When you talk, don't say anything bad. But say the good things that people need-whatever will help them grow stronger. Then what you say will be a blessing to those who hear you." 

Father, as we set out into today, fill us with Your Holy Spirit and may He guide us in the words we speak. May each word be kind and tenderhearted with the purpose of building up others.  In Jesus' name, Amen.