How much could a pair of shoelaces matter? Not much, right? Their only purpose is to hold your shoes together. Still, I think shoelaces are pretty important. Just try tying your laces too tight for a few days and see if it makes a difference! Normally that’s what I do: tie the laces as tight as possible so the shoe doesn’t slide around. The problem with that approach is that once I sit down to work for a few hours, extra blood goes to my feet and they get bigger while the shoes don’t. Since I don’t enjoy being uncomfortable like that, the other day I tried tying the laces a bit looser . . . and had a wonderful day. Shoelaces made the difference between a bad day and a good day.

There are hundreds of little things that affect us like shoelaces do. In some sense, you can decide what kind of day you’re going to have by adjusting these “shoelaces” in your life. Can you think of what they might be for you? Here are a few ideas:

• Setting aside time to pray
• Reading the Bible in the morning
• Talking to family members or coworkers
• Driving a little slower to work instead of fighting traffic
• Listening to music that encourages you

As you can see, “shoelaces” take on many forms, but they always affect the way we think and interact with the world around us. Here’s some even better news: we have the ability to affect other people as well. Actually, that’s both good news and bad news, we can affect them positively or negatively, but let’s focus on the positive ways we can affect others. Here’s a hint from the book of James: “Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” (James 3:4-5)

What we say can change how someone feels about their day or even their life. Proverbs 15:23 reminds us that “a man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!” How much could ‘a word spoken in due season’ matter? I think it could matter a great deal. The video clip embedded below is an example of that. The story is fictional, but human nature is the same. Take a few minutes to brighten up your day and get inspired about helping others with the power of a good word!

Now it’s your turn to validate somebody, because you — you are great. You have the ability to take someone’s day and make it better with only a word. You have enormous potential just waiting to be used. How about practicing on someone right now? Leave a comment on this post to let us know how it goes!

Continue reading in Part 2 of this series!