Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: the one who exhorts, in his exhortation.  Romans 12:6,8

Encouragers are hard to find.  Discouragers are everywhere.  One word of criticism can cause someone, already fragile, to want to throw up their hands and quit.  I can tend to think of an encourager as a person who hands out compliments and gives positive feedback but that is a weak translation of what Paul meant.   To encourage means ‘to give courage, console, counsel, and advocate.’  

I have to know someone well to give them comfort.  I must know their life, their work, and enough about their family to understand where sources of pain exist.  I have to be intuitive, knowing with just a look that they are not ‘themselves’ on a given day.  If they put on a good face, I’ll notice it.  The biblical bar is so high for how an encourager is defined.  If I’m drowning in my own challenges and don’t know how to live and abide in Christ, then I’ll have no courage to give away.  I will be nothing more than a parrot of clichés.

I know some real encouragers!  And because I have experienced the power of Jesus in their gifts to me, I love to encourage others.  I can’t wait to meet someone, hear their story, ask them where they struggle, and leave them with the strong words of Christ for where they faint.  The promises of God, strategically spoken from one who lives prayerfully, are the lifelines others need.  

Our of your vast resources, let my speech pour out your love, counsel, and courage.  Amen