Tonight I tackled the project I’ve been putting off for weeks: “file all papers in box.”

It’s not that I don’t know how to file. I’ve known how to do it since my mother taught me  alphabetical sorting when I was six.

It’s not that I haven’t had time to file. I’ve made time for other things.

It’s just that my file box was already full, and I knew I had to sort through it and toss papers. I didn’t want to make that many decisions, so I put it off.

But tonight, with a determined mind and focused purpose, I pulled out my file box and set the tottering “to file” pile next to it. Be ruthless, I told myself. There’s no use keeping junk.

Without even having to sort through the box, I could see which were the culprit files. It was my three bulging folders of note cards—thank you cards, birthday cards, friendship cards, encouragement cards.

Briefly, I hesitated. I probably should toss about seventy-five percent of these notes. Some are old. Some are brief. Some are repetitive.

But I didn’t hesitate for long. I pulled those loaded folders out…and moved them to another box.

And as I did, I realized just how valuable a kind word of encouragement is. They are valuable enough to me that I was willing to double my file storage size! I wasn’t ready to toss even one note card; instead, I added several.

“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24).

No doubt, you can remember pleasant words you have received—words of praise, thanks, or appreciation. Something about those words being written adds to their value. It makes them weightier and validates them.

As I pushed my second file box back into the closet, I determined that I want—more than ever before—to be the person who gives pleasant words. I want the Lord to use my written words of encouragement to fill the file boxes of others.

How about you? Are there any notes you need to write?