The Lost Art

It has been about 12 days since my last post. I'm sorry for the long wait. I'm coming off arthroscopic surgery on my left shoulder. My recovery is going great and I'm finally out of my sling! I'm ready to knock 2014 out of the park, you should be too! I wrote a post about my shoulder a while back http://bryceskistad.blogspot.com/2013/10/tell-allstruggle-pt-2.html feel free to check it out. Lets cut to the chase!

Do you want to know what the lost art is? Encouragement. Do you want to know what we don't offer enough? Encouragement. Do you know what needs to come back? Encouragement. I think you get the point.

Encouragement has power—plain and simple. Encouragement offers people hope. It inspires people and lifts them up. Every one of us needs encouragement. There isn't one person who is happy 24/7 and has a perfect life. If you know someone who is ALWAYS happy, please let me know. We all go through valleys. I can't tell you how many times I've been down and someone has encouraged me or gave me some hope—that impacts people. Encouragement has power.

Our words have a lot of power. Our words can either lift people up or tear them down. Words can start a fire in someone's heart or put it out. I want to challenge you to lift others up. "Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad" (Proverbs 12:25).

You can compliment a person 1,000 times, but if you insult them once they will only remember the insult. 1 insult + 1,000 compliments=1 insult. The Bible compares the tongue to a fire. The tongue can burn right through people especially right through the heart. A great forest (people) can be destroyed by a small fire (the tongue).

With our tongues we worship God—and we curse people who are made in God's image. Each one of us has the opportunity to speak life or death into other people. I hope you pick life. Everyone has heard of the saying "hurt people hurt people." I'm going to give you another saying "helped people help people." If someone has helped you—help someone else. Encouragement has no limits.

I think if Jesus was still walking this planet today he would be encouraging people like crazy. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 states, "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." Later in 1 Thessalonians 5 it says to "encourage the fainthearted and help the weak" (1 Thessalonians 5:14). We all know people that are weak and in need of encouragement. Don't be afraid to encourage someone today—but everyday. We all need encouragement.

I'll let you in on one of my New Year's Resolutions...It's to write more letters to people. Don't be shocked if you receive a letter in the mail from me. I want to write letters of encouragement to people. Encouraging texts, tweets, or emails are all really nice, but if you want to go above and beyond— write someone a letter. I bet it's something that person would never forget.