The Journey by Pastor Susan Hoyle

1 Thessalonians 5:11
Galatians 6:2
Scripture for March 22

Who gives you encouragement in your life? An encouraging person can make all the difference in the world to us. I can remember encouraging words from years ago because the words touched my heart and I knew someone was “in my corner.” So often, we remember the negative things people tells; those words just seem to stick to us and it can hard to shake loose from them. Then sometimes it feels like we don’t receive many positive words at all. Oh, I know, sometimes we just feel kind of sorry for ourselves. Yet, I don’t think we hear encouraging words enough in our daily lives. Sometimes we’re bombarded with what we don’t do right or we tell ourselves we don’t “do right.”

So what if we became “encouragers?” You know, we became intentional in offering people encouraging words; people we know and even people we don’t know. What if you chose one or two or three people a day to offer an encouraging word? You can encourage a person you know by making a phone call, writing a note or email, even a quick word as you pass each other in the hallway. And you can encourage a stranger, too. It might be telling that telemarketer that he or she did a good job or talking with a sales person. We can have great, encouraging conversation with anyone we meet, if we are intentional and not just trying to go on to the next thing on our “list.” You might even give yourself encouraging words every day. We can always find what we do wrong, take some time to notice what you do right, too.

When we encourage one another, we are serving God in a powerful way. Life can be real tough sometimes and just one encouraging word can lighten the load and even for a moment, brings us a little sunshine in our lives. And you know what? An encouraging word doesn’t cost any money, only a little time and effort on our part. And what we give and what we receive---priceless.