encouragement...a little goes a long way

Something I've been giving some thought to recently is how very, very important encouragement is in people's lives. Who doesn't love being encouraged, right? Kids need it, old people need it...heck, even animals need it!! But ya know what...I have also come to realize, I'm really bad at encouragement. It's not that I don't want to be encouraging...it's just not something that flows very naturally from me. I think I can tend to be more of a Negative Nelly by nature. For example, my kids can get mostly good grades, and I'll toss out a 'good job' in passing, but the minute I get a notification of a bad grade...well, you can expect a solid lecture. The amount of time I spend harping on the bad far outweighs the amount of attention I spend on the good, and I really dislike that.

I've also realized how often I actually think something like "Oh, that looks really nice!", or, "Those kids are very well behaved...", or, "I really enjoyed that..." but for whatever reason, I don't necessarily say it. 

It's not like it's a big life change...certainly not as big of a deal as, say, changing my eating habits.  (Not going there...).  But I realized, while it's not necessarily something that would take a lot of work on my part, it could really have a considerable impact on others.  So I'm trying to become...haha, of all things...more vocal.  (Yeah, I know, mostly I talk TOO much...)  There's lots of times I should learn to keep my mouth shut...but this time, I'm trying to be very intentional to OPEN it...and simply say something nice.  It's not that hard, really.  Geez, especially in this digital age....I can not only speak encouragement, I can text it, post it, "like" it, comment it!!  There's no excuse!  What might take me 30 seconds, could bring a smile to someone for a few hours...at least, I know that's how I feel when someone encourages me!

So why not try it?  When you see a child do something nice, make a point of telling them..."Hey Suzy, that was so sweet what you just did!"  When you see a woman whose outfit is really cute (put aside your jealousy) and tell her!  When you see a neighbor's hard work on their flower bed, compliment them!  When you read a blog post that really makes you laugh, or think, or inspires you...leave a comment!  Most importantly, if you are a parent...acknowledge everything good in your kids that you possibly can!!! 

We often hear about how damaging negative words can be...but think about how empowering positive ones can be!  Encourage someone today!

 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.  

~1 Thess. 5:11