Articles
Messages on the Stall Wall
Messages on the Stall Wall
Do you ever stop to read the messages on the walls of the bathroom stall? They can be, well, interesting to say the least. You can come across everything from jokes and philosophical statements to gang signs and crude remarks.
Normally a bathroom stall would not be the place to learn a spiritual lesson, but there are exceptions to every rule. A college student went into the bathroom stalls at the university she attends and found that the walls were full of messages. As she began reading the messages, she noticed a particular theme. This stall was being used almost like a journal by the young ladies. Many girls had written about their experiences with rape, eating disorders, dealing with an alcoholic father and even the death of one girl’s father. This stall had become a snapshot of these girls' most horrifying moments.
She was touched by these confessions and decided to write something in response. She penned a letter of encouragement, addressing each girl specifically and taped it up in the bathroom stall. It is uncertain if any of the troubled girls read this letter, but later on, at the bottom of the page someone wrote in response, “To the person who wrote this, thank you.”
Even though her letter was put in a bathroom, this girl demonstrated what good encouragement is all about. Her encouragement was sincere and personal. She gave it freely and generously, even to people who may never read it. No one asked her to do this, she did it out of kindness and good intentions. This girl demonstrated an attitude of encouragement; an attitude that must be found in us. Hebrews 3:13 explains, “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”
If given the opportunity, what would you guys write on the walls of our bathroom stalls? What horrors might you confess? What cruelty have you experienced? Only the Lord knows what would show up. One thing is for certain though, most people need encouragement, and we have a duty to encourage. After all, doing so can prevent people from being "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."
There is no telling how many lives could be touched, changed and improved if we just encouraged more. So, let us give encouragement freely and generously. Let us make our encouragement sincere, specific and personal. Above all, let us make encouragement a constant fixture in our lives and speech.
