Day 258 - Do you encourage others?

Daily Reading

Romans 1

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📝 Reflection 

Romans 1: 10-12

“One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.”

 

The word encourage has been swirling around me for a couple of weeks now, so it was nice to open chapter one of Romans and get encouraged by seeing it 😊.  It is a powerful word and so much good can be done with it or not… Here are just a few definitions a quick google search rendered: 

Encourage: 

1. give support, confidence, or hope to (someone). 

2. To help someone to feel confident and able to do something

3. to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope - Miriam Webster 

4. to attempt to persuade: to urge 

5. To spur on: to stimulate 

So as you can see it can be a really positive thing or.. negative depending on your motives. So how do you encourage others? I have been trying to be more intentional about this, not only by my words but by my deeds as well. As a parent, if I am being honest, I used to practice more of a  ‘do as I say not as I do’ approach. As my kids became teenagers this became particularly discouraging to me internally. I honestly knew I was sending mixed messages and in my heart wanting them to make choices that I wasn’t making for myself. 

Encouraging is so much more than words. Words are important and feel great to hear and we need to use them to encourage each other with. But it can be so much more than that, our very lives can be use to encourage to others. We are role models and examples whether you like it not wether you choose to accept it or not. It doesn’t change the truth that you are. So what are you encouraging? Who are you encouraging? How do you show encouragement. 

In this chapter as it goes on, Paul gives some examples of how people can easily get off track, led astray, get engaged in not so healthy or uplifting behaviors. First it can start with subtle behavior shifts, incorporating idols and before you know it you have been led or led yourself in to temptation and things you know are not good for you. But it might feel good for awhile, hence the temptation. This is when rational‘lying’ can start to creep in and you know misery loves company, so if we can encourage someone to join us then we aren’t alone.  Then it really isn’t so bad or wrong, is it? And so it goes….We tend to look at those we are familiar with like friends, loved ones and since we love them we tend to normalize what they do. Since we like the person we may look at behaviors as not so bad, we can be encouraged just by virtue of proximity to do the same things.

We have to be really careful, it can be a slippery and fun slide down. Climbing back up is hard though. In the 12 step world they say you take the elevator down, but you have to take the stairs to get back up. Many also in the 12 step world and other programs where people do ‘the work’ also take encouragement as a very serious part of their healing. We know that hurt people often hurt people. But conversely healed people also heal people. This happens through intentional encouragement through community and one to one support.  This is also the goal of many churches, but because we are human sometimes they get it wrong. There are lots of good communities and churches out there to find genuine encouragement from. If you are feeling discouraged, then maybe try giving encouragement to someone and see what happens. I am pretty sure you will feel better and be encouraged yourself as well…as one of my mentors and coaches @ Jenn Kautsch always reminds us ‘be the change you want to see in the world’. 

✍🏼Daily Journal Prompt 

Encouraging is so much more than words. Words are important and feel great to hear and we need to use them to encourage each other with. But it can be so much more than that, our very lives can be use to encourage to others. We are role models and examples whether you like it not wether you choose to accept it or not. It doesn’t change the truth that you are. So what are you encouraging? Who are you encouraging? How do you show encouragement.  

📖Tomorrows Reading

Romans 2  

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