Encourage Others. Encourage Yourself.

I apologize in advance. I said that I wasn’t going to keep harping about my birthday, but the inspirations just keep coming. I was amused when my son turned 50 last year, and at his family celebration, his sons were playfully teasing him about his newfound midlife age of 50. They’d make remarks like “Dad, do you need help getting up the stairs?” While speaking really loud to him “Dad, can you hear me?” It was all in fun, but I remembered those words when I was turning 70. I was prepared to hear similar remarks but was pleasantly surprised that all of my family had such kind and encouraging words for me. Ryan was wearing a shirt on Sunday that said “Sundays” on it. Braden said, “Nana, be so thankful that you know what day of the week it is because Dad has to wear a shirt to remind him!” LOL! The most negative words I heard about me over the weekend were from me. I’d start to say something and lose my train of thought, and I’d say “Well, I’m 70 now. Get used to it.” Then I’d mentally spank myself for speaking negatively about my new age.

The second photo here is of a table with words on it that said: “70 Reasons Why I Love Nana”. (Check out our sweet Bentley photo-bombing!) Each one had written down encouraging words that were typed on cards for the table. Phrases like: “You are always smiling.” “You are so brave and led us parasailing!” “You are a Godly woman that shows us how to chase God!” “You are sooo much fun!” “You believe in me and help me believe in myself!” “You are the best Nana in the world.” “You take care of my animals.” “You are a prayer warrior!” Now, that’s what I call encouragement.

We live in a day and age when everyone wants a coach -- someone to spur them on – someone to be their cheerleader. But, in the meantime, if we don’t have those in our life, we shouldn’t just sit there, pining away because there are no cheerleaders in sight. We need to start being our own coach, cheerleader, and encourager by affirming ourselves: “Good job! Good Girl! Well done! You’ve got this! You nailed it!”

We should be encouragers to each other for sure, but it’s A-Okay to do that for ourselves, too. We need to coach our lips because we know that the power of life and death are in the tongue and we need to be careful with the words we speak to ourselves. We need to coach our head. The Bible talks about taking our thoughts captive. That’s so important, especially when our thoughts are running wild with negativity and worry and concern and we need to lasso them back into captivity. We need to coach our hands. What good does it do to have all the knowledge in our head of what God wants us to do and not do it? So many are looking for someone to rescue them, and with our hands reaching out, we can be the answer to someone’s prayer.

Our words should be filled with blessings -- words that affirm and approve; words that commend and compliment; words that specifically speak love and affection; words that invoke hope and self-confidence; and words that answer pain and disappointment with support and faith. May our words and actions bring light and life to our family and our world today. Let's be encouragers!