Friday, June 15, 2012

Lessons From the Edge

Words of affirmation are directly proportional to one's ability to complete a task.

We're taking a field trip next week. Going to a local park for a picnic lunch and an enjoyable afternoon. It's going to be a blast!
So Wednesday I invited residents to come to the Activity Room to decorate picture frames which will part of a memento of our picnic. I bought acrylic picture frames and stickers - with the intention that residents would decorate the outer edge of the frame, and I would take their picture at the picnic and put it into their frame for them to keep.
To me, it seemed like a simple craft which would make a nice keep-sake.

However, several of the residents who came to decorate a picture frame lacked confidence. I had made a sample, and done other preparations which I thought would make the process simple. Even so, I heard lots of comments like, "I've never done this before," "I'm no good at decorating picture frames," and "Mine won't look good."
So as I walked around the table offering help, I made sure to tell everyone what a great job they were doing. I might have gone a little over-board on some of the praises. *ahem*
But as I said the words, I noticed something.
*Their smiles got a little bigger.
*Their posture got a little straighter.
*The frames got a little prettier.
*And everyone completed their project. Even the ones who said they were 'no good' at decorating picture frames.

My heart was delighted to see how proud everyone was of their creation. I was happy that they'd all stuck with the project, even though at the onset they weren't sure they could do it. And I was thankful for the lesson I learned: Words of affirmation are directly proportional to one's ability to complete a task.

Who needs the encouragement of your words of affirmation today?

Karen

5 comments:

Patricia said...

Loved this story! It made me smile!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Anonymous said...

awwwww, yes, so very true! God's word says we are to lift eachother up and encourage one another. We are a blessing to eachother when we do this. My Grandma was an example to me in this way; she was an amazing encourager in my life. Thanks for sharing this post Karen. Another beautiful story ***chera

Karen Hossink said...

Patricia - I'm glad. :)
Hoping it made you think about speaking words of affirmation, too.

Chera - It is absolutely amazing to me how powerful our words are. For good OR bad. I want to honor God be being an active encourager!

Leah Adams said...

Did you take pictures of their finished work? Would love to see it!! I bet that outing will be such a fun time. Can't wait to hear all about it.

Karen Hossink said...

Leah - Ahhh, pictures. After the fact, I was really wishing I had recruited a volunteer to help with this project so I could have gotten pictures of them doing the frames. :(
As it is, I plan to get pictures of the frames once they have the pictures from our Hawk Island trip in them. I think they're going to look wonderful!