The value of Christian encouragement . . .

I'm about half-way through Leonard Sweet's book, 11 Indispendible Relationships You Can't Be Without. I think Sweet and Philip Yancey are our two great contemporary theologians of our time. I've got several more books, written by both, to read through this summer.

Sweet makes some neat comments about the value of encouragement. My focus in losing 41 pounds since Fat Tuesday has been . . . well . . . me! It has all been about me. What I can eat, what I can't eat, what I can wear, what I can't wear. But along the way, I have really been encouraged by the positive and supportive comments of many people here at the church, who are urging me on to better health.

I mean, I really do appreciate the encouragement, especially when I was considering chucking it all and going to get the really big chicken fried steak.

Sweet writes the following about encouraging someone (pp. 108-109):

-When you encourage someone, you stiffen his or her spine.
-When you encourage your spouse, the reception is rewarding.
-When you encourage you children, they blossom and bloom.
-When you encourage your antagonist, you aim not to deliever arguments that compel assent so much as arguments that further discussion, dialogue, and relationship.
-Encouragment is fertilizer, delivering nutrients we need to grow for the long haul.

What would happen if each of us would take just one-day-a-week to offer a word or gesture of encouragement to everyone that we meet?

Well, considering the limits we all have on spiritual, emotional, realtional and physical strength, offering that much encouragement might be more than most of us can handle. . .

But . . . what if . . . we tried . . . over time we might must be able to do it . . . and the number of lives affected in a positive way would be astounding I am sure!!!

I think God might like this plan. Because offering encourgement to everyone we meet one-day-a-week . . . is really to treat eveyone as they really are . . . a child of God!

So . . . who are your encouragers? And . . . who are you encouraging?

Ever forward . . . ><>