Encourage One Another

Our kids came to visit for Easter. We had a great time. We even got to sit outside due to the warmer temperatures. 

Our grandkids were enjoying the warmer weather as well; climbing all over the playset we had gotten them "for such a moment as this."

Our grandson became intrigued by the rings. He tried to do all kinds of things with them, often failing. Then he'd try something else.

I told him, "You know you could probably hang upside down if you wanted to. You're almost there."

He tried and tried but couldn't quite get there. Then I thought through the situation and asked myself, "How did I do it when I was a kid?"

After going through the process I explained just how HE could do it. It wasn't long before our grandson could get himself into the position you see in the picture.

So I said, "You know, with just a little more effort, you could do a back flip and land on your feet." He looked at me as if to say, "Really?"

"You can do it!" I told him.

Someone once called me Barnabas, because I am an encourager. I guess that's true. But we ALL can become a "Barnabas" in someone's life, if we choose to.

"Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet." - Acts 4:36-37

It didn't take my grandson long before he was doing backflips and landing on his feet. Each time he completed the task he would look up at me for affirmation. And I let him have it.

"Wow! That's great! I wish I could still do that."

We all need encouragement from time to time, especially when we are going through something we have never done before. It's comforting to know that someone else has been through the very same thing.

Here's a question for you. How does someone know how to trust in God if no one every tells them the amazing things God has done? How do they know to trust God unless they hear the marvelous things He has done in OUR lives?

"Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." - Hebrews 3:13

Encouragement doesn't cost us anything, yet it is priceless to someone in desperate need of it.