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The finest gift you can give anyone is encouragement. Yet, almost no one gets the encouragement they need to grow to their full potential. If everyone received the encouragement they need to grow, the genius in most everyone would blossom and the world would produce an abundance beyond the wildest dreams. We would have more than one Einstein, Edison, Schweitzer, Mother Theresa, Dr. Salk and other great minds in a century.”
- Sidney Madwed

Remember back when Gary Chapman’s book “The Five Love Languages” was all the rage in the church world? 
Well I do.

 I remember taking the love language test and getting the results that I felt most loved when people hugged me (physical touch) or made my bed (acts of service…) and I felt the least impacted if someone tried to tell me how awesome I was. These results didn’t come as a surprise to me at all.
I attributed my lack of need for affirmation to my lack of giving affirmation. It didn’t come natural to give it, and even less natural to receive it.  My how the times have changed…

I always felt like I was above affirmation, like I was weak if I let someone encourage me, because my worth and value wasn’t to be in people and what they thought or how they felt.. it was supposed to be rooted in something deeper and more sacred and holy than that. Little did I realize, even that guy Paul, the holy apostle writing from the prison cell was right on the money when he said; 

11 So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it. (1Thes 5:11)

I didn’t know what I was missing out on. I didn’t realize that I could face a day full of discouragement and disappointment and with even just one encouraging sentence, a heavy weight… be lifted.

Because that’s the reality:: there can be a heavy weight or a redeeming power in our words. I don’t say this in a blasphemous way, but I think it’s funny how much power God gave us in the realm of our words.. and I think it probably wasn’t the best idea for him to do that, because we, in our weak and typically selfish nature don’t have that truth branded in our thinking. we fail to remember that one sentence or one conversations has the power to alter someone’s course.

That one bit of encouragement could have been just the push someone needed to pursue a dream or desire they’ve questioned for years.
That one compliment on her outfit or hair could boost her self-esteem and alter the poor image she’s had of herself, all day.
That one moment you actually took the time to translate the nice things you’re THINKING into WORDS that you spoke and encouraged another.

It’s a simple concept, but one that requires our heartfelt participation, love, and our time to do it.

It could make all the difference in the world in someone’s life.
And yet the beauty and the terror of it all, is that you never know when the  seed of encouragement you speak, could finally be the trigger of something deep down in the human heart. You never know! 
It could be an encouraging text or voicemail, an unexpected email or just a short conversation in passing. 
It matters not the method of how we encourage, as long as we’re doing it. As long as we’re not just thinking the good and kind things, but taking the time to let others know what’s been in our head all along.

 I can look back right now and remember certain words of encouragement, certain affirming conversations that truly altered things for me and my life. And they would have never known, in that moment, what their words meant to me. How they affected me. How they brought light and truth to my situation. They never knew. 

I want others to say that about us. That we took the time, that we meant what we were saying, and that we loved so deeply that encouragement couldn’t help but spill over. I dare say, the relationships around us would look much different if we accepted this challenge and truly had the desire to “build up hope” in others.
Let’s be good and faithful stewards of our words and the power they hold… knowing that someday, someone might come back to you and say “Do you remember that conversation we had? Well you may not know this, but what you said to me, was the spark that changed it all.”

“The finest gift you can give anyone is encouragement.” – I believe that to be undoubtedly true. We have the opportunity to use every word as a seed: a seed that can produce confidence, security, vision, and hope in others. And lets always remember:: we may never know when that one simple seed, will produce a bounty of harvest in someone else’s life. 

let the sowing begin.

-S