Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24, NIV

I have a friend at work who is teaching me to live the truth in this verse. I watch her do it every day. She is constantly encouraging others and speaking life over them. When she speaks, I have witnessed others see themselves the way God sees them.

One day, as we were walking down the hall, she looked at me and said, “Bekah, you are so gifted at loving others. It is like your superpower.”

If I am being honest, this had NEVER occurred to me. And it definitely had not ever been articulated to me in that way. But after she spoke those words to me, it became part of my identity. I thought, I do love to love others.

My friend’s words were simple, yet they called out a part of who God has made me to be. They made me pray and ask God to help me see those who can’t see or feel His love or the awesomeness of who He created them to be. It encouraged me to begin speaking the truths I see in other people.

Today, I want to encourage you to consider, How can my behavior communicate God’s love to others? How can I begin to call out the God-given identities I see in others? How can my words become sweet to the soul and healing to the bones for those around me every day?

Jesus, I pray that as we lean into You, we will begin to see others how You see them. That we would begin to call out in them the pieces of who they are that You are revealing to us. Help us to remember our words are healing and a fragrance of You to those we touch every day. Amen.

Copyright Rebekah Hutchinson.

Rebekah is a Christian Educators member and a second-grade teacher in Vancouver, Washington.