Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Max Lucado from his book, How Happiness Happens (p. 21). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That is so true. Right before this Max said, “If a soccer coach wants to increase the odds of a player missing another goal, he should get angry and shout at her. If the coach wants the player to return to the game with better vision, he should give her a word of affirmation. ‘People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be—not what you nag them to be.’ 1 “A little boy said these words to his father: ‘Dad, let’s play darts. I’ll throw, and you say “‘Wonderful!”’” Max then says, “Every person needs to hear a ‘wonderful.’ Here is why. A dis couragement conspiracy is afoot. Companies spend billions of dollars to convince us that we are deficient and inadequate. To sell face cream, they tell us that our faces are wrinkled. To sell new clothes, they pronounce that our clothes are out of fashion....

A thought by Max Lucado from his book, How Happiness Happens (p. 19). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) And we all want and need to be encouraged and encouragers, don’t we? Max says, “Their efforts pay high dividends. Decades of marriage research led Dr. John Gottman to identify an interesting characteristic of happy couples. Healthy homes enjoy a positive-to-negative ratio of five to one. In other words, for every negative comment or criticism, there are five acts or words of encouragement. 1 “Similar results were found among business teams. One study of effective leadership styles revealed that high-performing teams experienced a positive-to-negative ratio of nearly six positive comments for every negative one. Low-performing teams, conversely, had an average of three negative comments for every positive one.” 2 He goes on, “Intentional encouragement has affected my life. Three years into my role as se...

A thought by Max Lucado from his book, How Happiness Happens (p. 8). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) It really is. A beautiful smile! Max says, “You can’t control your genetics. You aren’t in charge of the weather, the traffic, or the occupant of the White House. But you can always increase the number of smiles on our planet. You can lower the anger level in your city. You—yes, you—can help people to sleep better, laugh more, hum instead of grumble, walk instead of stumble. You can lighten the load and brighten the day of other human beings. And don’t be surprised when you begin to sense a newfound joy yourself. That’s what this book is about: the unexpected door to joy. “And standing at the entryway to welcome you is Jesus of Nazareth.” Max goes on, “Jesus was accused of much, but he was never ever described as a grump, sourpuss, or self-centered jerk. People didn’t groan when he appeared. They did...