Encouraging Others…People Need Encouragement…have you looked around lately? have you watched the news? read the newspaper? There is a lot of bad news out there. We are constantly being bombarded with bad news. People need encouragement and we can encourage them. We should encourage them!

I am reminded of the time that my son Eric, taught me a lesson on encouragement. It was in his hospital room, late one Friday evening. Eric had just had five long, brutal days of chemotherapy. You know, that is the stuff  they put in your body to kill the bad cancer cells which also has tremendously bad side affects. Anyways, it was bout 10:00 pm that Friday evening and there was a faint knock on the door and a small voice said “housekeeping”. Eric mustered the strength to say, come on in. She came in, cleaned and mopped his room very diligently and quietly. She was an elderly lady and looked very tired. It obviously had been a long day and probably a long week for her. As she finished her cleaning and gathered her supplies to leave the room quietly, trying not to disturb Eric, I heard him say “Thank You!”. Boy, the smile that came across her face was something to behold. Eric had made her day. She was encouraged. She has a thankless job, and someone took the time out to recognize that. I was overwhelmed…tearful…proud…and thankful all at the same time.

I wonder how many times during the course of the day, that I miss opportunities to encourage people. Think about all the opportunities that we have to encourage those around us…

  • the check out clerk at Wal-Mart
  • our fellow workers
  • our spouse
  • our children
  • a telemarketer (now that is a tough one)
  • the trash man
  • our pastor
  • a waitress
  • our Mom and Dad
  • a worker at the take out window
  • our brothers and sisters
  • the list goes on and on…

Sometimes, encouraging people requires us to be intentional. It requires us to slow down and spend time with people in order to encourage them. Eric taught be a very important lesson that Friday evening…in spite of our own circumstances, let us never neglect encouraging others.