THE KISS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Thursday, October 12, 2006

This morning I woke up thinking about a dear friend, an elder in the church in northern California. What was on my mind was what a great encourager he is. For almost twenty years he was a constant source of encouragement to me. Oh, he disappointed me at times—but never on purpose.

He took a personality test a few years back and found out he has a tendency to bully people. I could have told him that. He does bully people in certain situations. But he is not a bully! I don’t see him as what he does occasionally. I see him for who he is deep inside and what he does most of the time. I see him as an encourager. He is like Barnabus in the Book of Acts. Barnabus was an encourager.

My friend accepts you where you are. He lets the past be the past and he sees you right where you are. He gets excited about the progress of others. He gives others a second chance.

I want to be like that. I want to give all the encouragement I can. It doesn’t come naturally to me. I want to grow in this way because this old world needs all the encouragement it can get.