The best way to move a person (it's not what you think).

The simple words said often move people the deepest.

I’m not a bad friend because I gossip or betray.

I’m a bad friend because I don’t say what matters.

My failure is elusive and quiet.

I often struggle to tell people I love them.

Above is my best friend.

He asked me to officiate his wedding—one of the greatest honors I’ve ever had. And when I think about him, a flood of details comes to mind:

The way he listens—never cutting in, never rushing—just head tilted, eyes narrowed, as if my words are the only ones in the world. He can walk into a room of strangers and walk out with ten new friends, no effort at all. In the pandemic, when everything felt fragile, we crowded into my living room. We played Nintendo. We worshipped. We told stories people usually bury. Half his jokes fall flat. But I laugh anyway. He cries when he talks about injustice, real tears, but then he starts asking how to fix it, how to hold the broken pieces together. He geeks out over Star Wars, yet that same nerdy passion turns into this precise, methodical way of solving problems at work. And when he’s angry, he doesn’t shut down, he doesn’t explode. He talks. He reasons. He refuses to let bitterness linger. He’s humble. He’s intense. He’s overflowing with love. He is, in every sense of the word, extraordinary.

He’s the kind of friend most people spend a lifetime searching for.

And I’ve never told him.

I didn’t tell him at the wedding.

…or when we hugged afterward.

…or a year later when he called me in tears.

I still haven’t told him.

I try to be clever. I circle the words, like a dog pawing at the door but never stepping outside. And in the end, I miss it. The rare, holy chance to just open my mouth and say the thing that matters

Expert copywriter Ben Settle once said, “If you’re saying something someone really needs to hear, it doesn’t matter how you say it. Just saying it makes it exciting.”

The simple words said often move people the deepest.

—Payton

P.S. I’m still learning this myself. At VeryGoodGhost, it’s what we help Christian founders and executives do—strip away the fluff and say what matters most.