In writing about creative encouragement, I have two goals in mind.
- I want to encourage people who need it.
I want to speed up the process to find encouragement. I want to weed out the discouragers and dis-encouragers that are ineffective or have political or personal agendas. I want to expose the common flaws and myths I learned about encouragement. I want to share what really works. - I want to help the encouragers.
I know how hard it can be and how many mistakes can happen and I want to pool the encouragement wisdom that’s out there. Almost everything I learned came from someone who encouraged me. By encouraging encouragers I hope to build a community.
So far, I’ve been dealing with finding encouragement. I wanted to get a chunk of writing out there to give you an idea of who I am and what this place is about. But I think I’m now far enough along in the process to start talking about the encouragers themselves. The ultimate goal is to get a conversation started so we can share our experiences.
Who are these encouragers I’m talking about? They are a many and varied group. Here are a few examples.
- The Gifted Encourager
- The Best Friend Encourager
- The Family Encourager
- The Professional Encourager
- The Encourager Unaware
- The Example Encourager
- The Experienced Encourager
- The Listening Encourager
- The Available Encourager
- The Praying Encourager
- The Called Encourager
- The Competitive Encourager
- The Encourager By Necessity
This is not a complete list. There are almost as many kinds of encouragers as there are people. But let’s start with one of the most visible groups.
The Gifted Encourager
These people are encouraging before their morning coffee. They must wake up complimenting the alarm clock on how punctual it is. They will find good things about you that your Mama didn’t know. By the time you get through talking to them, YOU will even think you are great. They could make your mother-in-law think you almost deserve to be in the family.
Please note: I do not belong to this group. But they have taught me a lot.
They make you believe in yourself, have confidence in your ideas and give you the courage to try them. Because, if someone else believes in them that much, they must be worth trying.
“I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Most of them are not professionals. You can find them anywhere. They just have a knack for uplifting other people. They are interested in you and seem to see you when others don’t.
I ran into one recently behind a grocery store cash register. One of these people works at a restaurant nearby and calls everyone,”Baby.” (It’s a Southern thing.) I’ve found them at work, in hospitals, just passing by and in church. Sunday School classes and small groups are good places to find them.
In particular, I’m thinking of a lady named Martha. Once she found out my wife was battling cancer, she never failed to greet her with,”It’s my Suzie Sunshine! It’s good to see you. Come here.” A big smile and careful hug always followed. (She knew that back slapping hugs are painful to mastectomy patients.) She was always filled with joy and hospitality.
These gifted people are special. But that’s part of their limitation. As much as you love them, there aren’t enough of them. They can’t always be there when you need them. When you need some really powerful encouragement, they are busy because their gift is in high demand.
Who doesn’t want this kind of powerful attention?
It’s as if they were born to do this. Paul singles gifted encouragers out in his letter to the Romans:
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. ~ Romans 12:6-8
So, does that let all of the rest of us off the hook? Can we just find our own special talent and focus only on that? Can we skip the annoying task of encouraging others?
There’s more to the story. But we’ll save it for tomorrow.
The Encouragers – Part 2