Words of Encouragement

by Rebecca Irwin

I had the privilege to attend a baby shower for a dear friend on Saturday. Though it is their third child, this is their first girl and her mama has a great love of books. Thus, the hostesses asked each guest to bring book recommendations for little girls. What a wonderful list was created! At the end, the baby's grandmother prayed, "We pray that she will be a woman of words, but more importantly, a woman of The Word, may it shape and guide her life...". What a lovely blessing prayed upon that little girl! And what an encouragement to all the hearers - that as mothers we have the incredible task of planting the seeds of God's Word in our little one's lives.

That same evening, we happened to bring home the movie "Because of Winn Dixie". At one point, Opal says to Gloria Stump, "Miss Franny said the problem with people here is that they forgot how to share their sadness, but what I think is that people forgot how to share their joy." With her simple, straightforward observation, she encouraged Gloria Stump to release her fear and throw a lovely party. That is the defining quality of encouragement : "To inspire with hope, courage, or confidence; to hearten". And that is the power of words to encourage. (I hope I did not give anything away, and I would recommend putting this film at the top of your list of movies to see and/or books to read!)

To serve as yet another example, my oldest son recently received second place in our school's art contest for his drawing of a family moving to New York City. The artwork was judged by a class of students at Cal State University, Long Beach. About a week after the award reception a handwritten letter came home in his backpack. It said, "I thought your artwork 'Moving to New York City' was amazing! Your drawing and painting skills are excellent, and I think you are a wonderful young artist. I am a student at CSULB, and your artwork and skills impressed me very much. I hope you continue to make art, and become a professional artist one day. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you keep up the amazing work." he signed it with his signature and a sketch of a paintbrush. I wish I could have hugged that student!! What an amazing gift of praise for my boy! And, what a thoughtful gesture to take the time to put pen to paper and write down his words and deliver it to the elementary school. It took effort to do this thing, but the impact it may have on my son's pursuit of art may last his lifetime.

I am astounded by Paul's efforts to encourage the groups of people, and individuals, he wrote to. Like Paul, I imagined myself in the un-comfort of a prison cell. In my imagination the floor was dust and there was no bed, no sink or water to drink, no toilet, no privacy. All I would have the mind to do was worry and cry and beg Jesus to release me from that place. In stark contrast, Paul thought about the "others" in all the one-anothers he spoke of. He asked for a pen and paper, and with his own, chained hands wrote words of gratitude and praise and love. Note too, he did not hesitate to ask for encouragement for himself, knowing full well he could be discouraged. Ah yes, it took effort.

Lord God, may we make the effort to admonish the idle,encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with them all. May we always seek to do good to one another and to everyone (1 Thes. 5:14,15). Help us to find encouragement in your Word so we can in turn encourage one another. We recognize we are sometimes more prone to be discouraged and we ask that you would bring along a friend who will give us "apples of gold in settings of silver" with "a word aptly spoken". Thank you for the example you have given us in Paul and the encouragement of his words. Amen.