encourage the disheartened, 1 Thessalonians 5:14b

Recall the mantra of someone buying real estate: location, location, location. In other words, you can have the best home in the world, but it’s in a terrible neighborhood, you’ll regret it.

Similarly, I can’t say this enough because to Christians it’s absolutely true: encourage, encourage, encourage.

More than 30 years ago when I was studying Russian, we had just finished an exam. We were free to go to lunch and I was wondering how long it would take to get our papers back. Another student noticed our language teacher had a French language book on her desk, an he asked her about it. She said she usually studied French during her lunch hours. He responded simply, “Well, good for you!” At the time I was frustrated because I was anxious about my scores. It was about me, me, me. For the other student, it was about the other person. That scene has played in my head for all those years as the simplest form of encouragement.

Encouragement takes many forms. Some of it can be taught by others but most of the time, you learn it by watching others and doing it yourself. As my example notes, it’s not about you. It’s about the other person, which is the point of today’s post.

Take the time to encourage someone today. You have no idea where that person is in their life. Your words may just be life changing, and may be what the person needs to get through the day.