A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell
into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they
saw how deep the pit was they told the two frogs that they were as good
as dead. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of
the pit with all of their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop,
that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to
what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died. The
other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd
of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even
harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, "Did
you not hear us?" The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He
thought they were encouraging him the entire time. This story teaches
two lessons:

1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day.
   

2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them. Be careful of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path. The power of words. . . it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times. Special is the individual who will take the time to encourage another.

Author Unknown

We want to thank Virl Osmond for passing this along. You might want to read also, "Something Good About You."