Give Best

Encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. ~
1 Thessalonians 5:11

How often do you feel encouraged? How often do you encourage others? I know I myself need help in the area of giving encouragement; especially to those closest to me; I'm not always the builder. Encourage, according to Webster, means to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope. Unfortunately, my mouth runs amok sometimes and spills out every kind of discouragement. One of my goals this year is to become a more supportive and encouraging wife in not only my actions, but also in my words. There are times I am far from inspiring and if I'm not inspiring then I must be expiring. Expire, according to Webster, means to emit the breath of. How sad is that?! Courage is a huge part of encouragement and according to Webster, the definition of courage is mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. If I'm not encouraging people to be strong with courage then I am discouraging and supplying no strength, or support system for those who may really need it. Lastly, to be encouraging means to give hope and according to Webster, hope is to expect with confidence. If I take that hope away, or never give that hope than I am giving hopelessness, which also according to Webster is having no expectation of good or success; another word for despair. So...if I'm not encouraging I am expiring, discouraging, and despairing to those around me and am a life sucking, unsupportive and complete doubter of all good. Is that you? I know I personally steer clear of those people because, and hang on to your seats, they are all to often selfish takers from me than givers. It's always about them. However, that's me somedays....OH how I want to be an encourager! I want to breath life into peoples situations! I want to help them persevere and strengthen them! I want to expect only good for them and I want them to expect only good for themselves! What a different world we would live in if we would all make a conscious effort to build up instead of tear down. Our marriages, our children, our other family relationships, our friendships, our work places, our very beings would be transformed! Oh how I want that for me and mine. I want to leave that to my children. In the movie Bambi, Thumper's mother had good advice, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." I say if you can't be encouraging, than don't say anything at all. Now if I could only live by my own words....I'm going to give it my best. ~