On January 9, 2024, the retirement of Mayor Keith Summey of North Charleston, SC, was official. He had served the city for 30 years and at the age of 76, he decided it was time to pass the baton to someone else. In interviews, Summey humbly listed some of the things he accomplished in those 30 years. One of those was to get a National Day Calendar day established. Since 2006, every June 1, it’s National Say Something Nice Day.
Most of us were brought up on the adage, “If you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all.” As a politician in a city of nearly 115,000 people, I would imagine this was a challenge at times! Listening to the Mayor talk, though, you have to believe he was able to pull it off. His genial personality and humility was evident in all he said.
Truthfully, this is a good thing for us to practice daily. We’ve all been around the critical,
the complainer, the cranky, and the curmudgeon. It’s not a lot of fun, is it? Some have this personality 24/7/365 and it must be tedious to live with them. Our limited exposure to their negativity is draining.
Maybe we should start each day with a prayer, asking God to help us say nice things to other people. Our words should be an encouragement and blessing.
Years ago, we had an elderly gentleman in our church. He has since gone home to be with the Lord. Every conversation with him was filled with joy and beauty in the things he said. He could find a positive thought in the darkest of moments. Even when his wife passed away, he lifted his hands and said, “Everything is as it should be. Everything is good. Everything is marvelous. Everything is beautiful.”
Proverbs 18:21 reminds us that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” In other words, our words can destroy or they can have life-giving power. It’s our choice. How do we choose to speak? Consider some other verses from Proverbs.
Proverbs 10:20-21 The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth. (21) The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.
Proverbs 10:31-32 The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out. (32) The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.
Proverbs 15:23 A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!
Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
Since we are going to be in church today surrounded by many, I want to encourage every reader of this devotional to walk through those doors today on a mission. Let’s bless as many people as we possibly can by saying something nice to them. Tell someone why you are thankful for them. Tell someone what they mean to you. Tell someone how they’ve been an encouragement or help in your life. Keep doing this throughout the day, before and after the service.
And, since the Preacher needs to head to church in a few moments, let me share one of my chief ambitions for this Sunday. Ecclesiastes 12:10 say, “The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.”
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