When Doug asked me to devote 7 minutes a day offering encouragement I thought, “Hmmm, what would that look like?”  Do I set my watch?  Do I sit down for seven minutes and develop a strategy? Do I say, “Time’s up!”   Will I come across as forced and insincere?   Then Doug clarified his request by saying just spend some extra time thinking about how to encourage others. That suggestion made it seem more doable.

 Hopefully, this is a spontaneous part of all of our lives. After all, we love to be on the receiving end, so why not spend a little extra time thinking about the giving part?  Rather than artificially plotting to hand out nuggets of encouragement, I found that if I listened carefully to that inner voice we all have, there were plenty of opportunities to be a positive force.

For example, an elderly friend’s name might come to mind.  Why was I thinking of her at that particular time?  Act on it!  Pick up the phone and say hello.  Go over for a visit.  Buy a card and send it.  Write a letter. Too often we are headlong through a daily to-do list and casually toss off that impulse with the thought, “I’ll do it later when I have more time.”  More often than not, that time never comes back.

Someone has done something special for you.  Or they have an attribute you appreciate. Tell them!  A lady in my dance aerobics class moved to Washington D.C. and then returned for a visit.  I told her how much we missed her and at a particular point in class, when I turned around, there was a hole there because she was not in my line of sight. I might have not said anything if I had not been consciously aware.

 A writing teacher I admire was in the business of encouragement. We bared our souls in her living room every Monday night by reading our homework out loud.  Some people in the class were writing about emotional struggles and scarring events from childhood.  It was sensitive work.  Carolyn always had something positive and sincere to say about each offering.

  The Bible mentions the word “encouragement” throughout the New Testament.  Encouragement in the form of letters from church leaders kept early, isolated Christians strong in the face of persecution and fear.  The name Barnabas means “son of encouragement.”  He was one of the seventy followers, sent out in pairs to distant lands.  His partner was St. Paul. Barnabas is mentioned often in Acts.

My daughter is learning to drive.  In this arena, I have discovered that sometimes encouragement involves saying nothing.

     This isn’t the stuff of Nobel prizes or the evening news.  It happens quietly but makes the world a kinder, gentler place. 

Monica
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