We all have days like today. Days when you feel that sickening moment as soon as you shut the door, knowing you have locked your keys inside. Then you realize you can’t lock the door from the outside. Deep breath. The keys are in your hand. How long have you lived here?!

The car behind you honks while you’re in the Starbucks drive-through and you drop your card when it’s handed back to you. After a frustrating and somewhat embarrassing scene opening your door, reaching down and trying to rescue your renegade card from the asphalt, you are rewarded with your morning fix of liquid bliss in a cup. Finally, things are starting to look up!

You make it all the way to work – only a few minutes late. But then you’re forced to slam on your brakes to avoid hitting the car that just whipped into your parking space right in front of you. Now you’ve spilled your entire cup of coffee. Thankfully, you avoided getting any of the coffee on your car seats. Why? Because you spilled every bit onto your lap!

I had a day similar to the day described above. Okay, it was the day. I can’t make this stuff up.

As I was going home to change my coffee-soaked clothes, I spoke briefly to the caretaker at my apartment complex. He’s an older guy who I believe God created just to make my load lighter and my spirit brighter. He gave me the most solid advice I have received in a long time: “My grandma used to tell me that if it don’t come out in the wash, it’ll come out in the rinse.”

I wondered what circumstances inspired his grandmother to utter those words and how often they were spoken with wisdom and love to her grandson who had now repeated them to me.

The Bible tells us: “Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24) and that we should use our words for “…building others up according to their needs.” (Ephesians 4:29)

God, please help us to use your words and ours to always encourage others – because no one is exempt from days like today.