Battling Discouragement
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 1Thessalonians 5:11
“Here’s a little FREE gift you can give your child multiple times a day: Whenever they walk into the room, even if it is to ask you for something, pause & be genuinely happy to see them. If you don’t FEEL genuinely happy, ACT genuinely happy. It will improve both of your lives.”
This was a Facebook post of a friend’s a few months ago. I have been thinking about it off and on since I read it. What encouraging advice on a way to encourage our children.
Just for the record, I think you could take this to such an extreme that your child could begin to believe that he is the center of the universe or we could run the risk of seeming insincere. BUT, imagine, a child who is secure in the love of her parents, who has been built up just knowing her presence brings joy to her mother. How will that child take her parents’ correction? She’s been built up, her home is seen as a safe place, she knows her best interests are at the heart of any correction. Can you imagine the effect the same philosophy could have on our husbands?
Lately it seems that I have been talking to some very discouraged people. What struck me about this post is that she points out that pouring this kind of encouragement into the lives of others (children, husbands, friends, co-workers, Pastors – think of the possibilities!) improves our own lives, too.
I completely understand the things that have been discouraging — broken family relationships, apologies and efforts to reconcile that fall on deaf ears, unwillingness of others in the church to listen and minister to one another, financial difficulties, spouses who are selfish and not listening. People have reason to be discouraged but we cannot change other people. We can only change the way we respond to the circumstances God places us in.
Ephesians 4:29 instructs us how to respond, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Often, we are discouraged because we expect that we can change the offending party. We can only do what has the most potential to lead to peace and pray the situation or the people improve. Paul says to the Romans in 14:19, “So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. “ We have to do what we can and rely on the Lord to change the other person. He often doesn’t work as quickly as we think He should. Know this, His timing is always perfect.
In the meantime, maybe we need to take the advice of my friend and pour some grace and encouragement into the lives of others, especially in our own homes, where we are most affected by the moods and circumstances of our family members. As we build them up – we get built up, too. It is a win/win situation!
Encouragement, another one of God’s perfect gifts.