Today Is a Verb: Open the Gift of NowSample

Encourage Others

Do you remember a time during your childhood when a teacher, a parent, or a friend encouraged you? I still remember the exact words today—nearly six decades later—that my kindergarten teacher spoke to me as an impressionable five-year-old. Her words have lived on and on in my heart.

I attended a one-room schoolhouse and my beloved first teacher was Mrs. Dombrowski, an Australian war bride. Although she was childless, she loved each one of us as if we were her very own. I was eavesdropping on the spelling lesson she had been teaching to the third graders because I had quickly finished my seat work. Mrs. Dombrowski knew I had been listening and quietly called me to her desk. She then asked me to spell the words elephant and hippopotamus. I was able to do so because I had absorbed the entire lesson just given to the group of children who were three years older than me. Mrs. Dombrowski looked me straight into my eyes and said, “Carol, I expect great things from you. Don’t waste what God has given to you.”

The reality is that our words can change someone’s life. Our words travel through time and hit the target of a person’s heart again and again and again.

We have been strategically fashioned by our creator to need the encouragement that comes from others. It is not enough to encourage your spouse, a friend, a parent, or a child once a week; the Bible is clear that encouragement is meant to be a continual action.

• When in doubt, encourage someone.
• When a relationship is unraveling, encourage this person.
• If someone has offended you, encourage this person anyway.
• If someone is discouraged, choose to be an encourager.
• Encourage those who are older than you are.
• Encourage someone who is younger than you are.
• Look into a child’s face and tell this little one how simply amazing he or she is.

Meaningful Moment

Pause and pray for just a moment. Ask the Lord to show you who needs your encouragement today, this week, and this month. Write down their names and then intentionally look for opportunities to share a word of encouragement with each one of them.

Daily Declaration

“I declare that I was given a tongue by my creator to encourage everyone in my life.”