One of the most powerful ways that you can influence other people is through words of encouragement. Everybody needs encouragement and everybody has the ability to encourage others. Words of encouragement don’t take a lot of skill or energy or inconvenience—it just needs to be done.

It is estimated that the attention span of the average person will last for six compliments, or five encouragements, or one criticism. That points to the fact that we will stop and listen when somebody has something good to say, but we turn off pretty quickly someone who is negative towards us.

When I was getting a graduate degree at Princeton Seminary, I enjoyed going into New York City to hear Dr. Norman Vincent Peale preach. He became famous largely because of the encouragement of his wife. He told of how he had written a book and sent the transcript to several publishers. Nobody was interested. He was discouraged and threw the manuscript into a wastepaper basket.

His wife came in to salvage the manuscript, but he told her sternly, “We have wasted enough time on it. I forbid you to take it from the waste basket.”

His wife felt like she should try one more publisher, but she also knew what her husband had told her. The next day she went to the publisher’s office with the wastepaper basket and placed it on his desk. That way she didn’t have to go against her husband’s wishes not to take it from the waste basket.

Guess what. Inside was a manuscript of Norman Vincent Peale’s “The Power of Positive Thinking.” It became one of the best-selling books in history. His wife’s action of encouragement to visit one more publisher made the difference in the life and ministry of Norman Vincent Peale.

Coach John Wooden was the greatest basketball coach ever. One of his closet friends was Coach Tom Bartow, who recently sent me a copy of a signed, framed message that Coach Wooden sent him:

To Tom Bartow on Friendship

At times when I am feeling low, I hear from a friend and then

My worries start to go away, and I am on the mend.

No matter what the doctors say, and their studies never end.

The best cure of all when spirits fall, is a kind word from a friend.

Love, John Wooden

At a funeral, people say nice things about the deceased that should have been said while the person was living. The deceased would have enjoyed it much more. Remember—an encouraging word that is not spoken is not an encouraging word!

Look at Barnabas in the Bible. His name literally means “son of encouragement.” What our world needs today is a lot more Barnabases. You can be one of those. People need more encouragement and less criticism. What could America be like if politicians, rivalry sports teams, disgruntled employees, church critics—what if everybody focused on encouragement rather than criticism?

Don’t be stingy with words of encouragement. My friend, Derric Johnson, reminds us to “be generous with encouragement—it is verbal sunshine.”

To whom specifically will you offer verbal sunshine today?