Honeycombing

In today’s world of invisible earbuds, I’ve become accustomed to people speaking to an invisible person in public. On more than one occasion, I’ve answered someone in the grocery store aisle, only to realize I had unintentionally put myself into an A/B conversation and I needed to slyly C my way out. 

And don’t even get me started on my constant conversation confusion now that my husband has hearing aids, high-tech little boogers with which he can answer and conduct phone calls with the simple tap of an ear. I’m starting to sound like Robert De Niro with my repetitive “you talkin’ to me?”

So, when a woman was yelling in my general direction the other day while I was out for a run, I erred on the side of phone conversation with a hearing-impaired family member as she waited at the crosswalk of a busy intersection. I was about a third of the way through a long run and on my least favorite section—the sidewalk of a heavily trafficked road. But as I got closer, I realized she was, in fact, addressing me.

“You are so cool! That was a hill you just ran up! You go!”

She was unabashedly, wholeheartedly cheering for a total stranger. She took the time to give voice to an encouraging thought. And that encouragement ran with me for much of my grueling journey that morning, adding pep to each step, sweeter than the Honey Stinger chews in my vest. After all, Proverbs 16:24 states that “gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” 

Yes, I was encouraged on my morning run, but more than that, I was encouraged in my daily walk. I need to be more like the cheerleader on the corner. How many of the numerous positive thoughts about others do I voice each day, and how many do I just keep to myself?

We should be honeycombers. Actively combing our daily routines for ways we can share a gracious word with loved ones and strangers alike. And just as the honeycomb is pure, unfiltered, straight from the hive, may our words be genuine, sincere, straight from the heart. 

Just remember to share it loudly, in case they have invisible earbuds in. 

Copyright © 2026, All rights reserved.