As a teacher, I have made my share of mistakes. One that stands out is when one of my juniors turned in a paper saying he was going to play pro basketball when he graduated. I should have left it alone.
Instead I took it on myself to share that in twenty years of teaching, I never saw someone from a small school play on a pro team, and very few on a college team. That was true then and true twenty years later. The problem was that my words crushed his dream and did nothing to make either of us better people.
Teachers, parents, and friends should be dream builders, not dream shakers. There is a fine line between the two. Who knows when the right word will be the difference between success and failure? I have learned that life will supply its own disappointments without help from me.
The young man did not play ball in college or the Pros. Talent in a school of two hundred is different in a larger environment. While I do not think my words affected the outcome, they affected our relationship. I have carried that guilt of discouraging him for a long time. How easy would it have been to be an encourager instead of a naysayer!
A few years later, I read a book by Frances Littauer where she expressed that our words should be like silver boxes that hold a gift. Those words left their mark on me, for I long to be an encourager rather than a dream-stealer. My challenge for each of us is to make a positive impact on all those with whom we come into contact.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
Proverbs 9:11 KVJ