seldom is heard

When I was a kid in school, we had our own classroom, with our own teacher, and she was amazing. She did everything! Not only was she responsible for teaching us readin', writin', and 'rithmetic, she was also the PE teacher, the Art teacher, and the Music teacher.

I particularly remember the music times. It was thrilling to see who would get what. She would open the mysterious box and begin handing out the 'instruments,' while we waited to exhale. Surely, this time, I'd get the shiny little cymbals with the elastic bands that slipped over my fingers!

It was there, in our own classroom, lined up (as usual) desk-behind-desk, that we learned all the great music of the world! Our world, anyway. I believe we were taught the beautiful patriotic songs first, and rightly so...'The Star-Spangled Banner', 'America, the Beautiful', 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee', 'God Bless America'. (Yes, even in "Public" school, we could actually sing about the wonderful God who made America what she was...the greatest country on the whole earth.)

We even learned the music from the current show tunes, like 'Oklahoma!' And that catchy little tune came 'sweepin' down the plains' right into our classrooms in Texas. Oh, yes! We had it all.

I still recall the funny songs we learned too: "Old Dan Tucker was a mighty man...washed his face in a fryin' pan..." and of course, "Have you ever heard of sweet Betsy from Pike..." and then there's "Rachel, Rachel, I've been thinking, what a queer world this would be, if the men were all transported far beyond the deep blue sea..." And who could forget, "Henry! Fetch me some water!"

We 'drifted along' with the cowboy ballads and our favorite music from the orchestra was the "William Tell Overture" but we ALL knew it was really the theme from 'The Lone Ranger.'

I don't think there was anyone who didn't love Music. It was an easy "A." All you had to do...was sing!

Thinking about all the wonderful memories from those days, my mind recently wandered through the cowboy ballads and nestled up against, 'Home on the Range.' You remember, don't you...
"Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope play, where seldom is heard a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day...Home, home on the range..."

It got stuck in my head, and suddenly I realized why it was brooding there! One little phrase: "seldom is heard a discouraging word." That's Yoda language for "you don't hear anything that's discouraging very often." 

And that got me to thinking...

What if we took the time to consider what we said BEFORE it became audible? Would things change-for-the-better if we actually APPLIED the 2/3 rule [Two of the three must apply before you say it: 1) Is it true? 2) Is it necessary? and 3) Is it kind?]? What would happen if we tried, really tried, to stop saying things that discouraged ourselves, and others? Perhaps, that is what needs to happen more often in our daily lives...speaking encouraging words to one another.

It's not a new principle, far from it. For example, in Proverbs 25:11, we are reminded, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold framed with silver." Words 'fitly' spoken are encouraging, they have healing qualities in them.

Just for one day, why not try to speak encouragement to someone? Let discouraging thoughts and words be far, far away. Right now, it's just the opposite...seldom is heard an encouraging word...it's time to turn it around, the way it used to be when, "seldom was heard a discouraging word."

Go ahead...put a song in your heart, and see if the words of your mouth sound sweeter.