"Barnabas Example" Challenge -- First Bite

Colossians 4:6
"Let your speech/conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt..."

OK, so I ran off at the mouth last Sunday in Bible study challenging us to consider being an encourager to someone this week and speaking positively to them in preparation for our study of the encouragement that Barnabas was to Saul/Paul in Acts 9, etc.

Little did I know that I was opening myself up to be convicted about my speech. Got to thinking about it after Bible study. Why do I talk so negatively so much of the time? Why don't I speak more positively? Why do I default to the negative in so many circumstances? So I have talked myself into taking the "Barnabas Example" challenge. But I want to make a commitment that I might have some chance of keeping. I do not want to bite off more than I can chew, so to speak, especially when it comes to possibly having to eat my own words. Therefore, rather than trying to "eat the whole elephant" at one time, I will instead try to do it one bite at a time. Let me explain my "first bite". I am going to limit the scope and length of time of the commitment. Rather than trying to speak positively and encouragingly to everyone (what a burden), I will select one person. Rather than committing to do such for the rest of my life (let's not get carried away here), I will make the commitment until this coming Sunday morning at 9:30, at which time my official commitment will cease, if I so choose. By way of accountability, I will report and have my "one person" report to the group whether or not I was successful in keeping my commitment.
Therefore, my "one person" I have chosen to encourage and speak positively to is my wife, Carri. I kind of cheated on choosing my "one person" because she is always so nice and pleasant. I also kind of cheated on choosing the time frame because Valentine's is coming up, so you sort of have to be nice during this time anyway, don't you?
Well, here we go! It's Wednesday afternoon at 5:00 pm, so I will amble up to the church and see what happens. Since I have not let her in on this yet, let's see how long it takes her to wonder if something is wrong with me.