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A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away.As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing.He asked her what was wrong and she replied, I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother.But I only have seventy-five cents, and a rose costs two dollars.The man smiled and said, Come on in with me. I'll buy you a rose. He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mothers flowers.As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home.She said, Yes, please! You can take me to my mother. She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to his mothers house.

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs 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 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.