Encouragement

Have you ever noticed how our human nature makes us love to receive encouragement but resist giving it? It's really crazy. For me personally, I thrive on encouragement from others. It makes me do whatever I'm doing better and with more purpose. A lack of encouragement causes me to question the importance of my actions or even my very self. Yet, how often do I give encouragement to others? Fairly often I'll say to myself or a friend, "Wow. She did a great job!" or "I sure appreciate him!" But, I'll guess it's less than 10% of those times that I actually say or write those words to that person! And it's such a simple thing to do!

Proverbs 3:27 says "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in your power to do it." (NASB). This is usually used in reference to money or physical things, but I think it could easily be applied to any good thing. (The Hebrew word for "good" here is "towb" and can mean "welfare", "benefit", or "good things".) I thought of this verse with regard to encouragement because I truly think that I am withholding good from someone when I don't give encouragement. And when I imagine someone who withholds good things (love, kind words, gifts, kind deeds, a listening ear, mercy...) when it is in their power to give those things, I think of a cold, lonely, emotionally dried-up person--certainly someone I don't want to be.

So, what is it that makes me so resistant to encouraging someone? I'm not entirely sure, but I think what stops me the most is the perception that, by giving away encouragement, I am somehow losing something--that I will be less encouraged or happy. Of course this is nonsense when I write out the complete thought, but nonsense or not, it influences me! I cannot think of any good reason to withhold encouragement. And when I think of how much it means to me for someone to speak a kind word to me, I want to do the same for everyone else. So I'll live now with this freshly fueled fire and seek out ways to encourage. I just hope that when this fire begins to die out, as all fires tend to do, that someone's encouragement to me will help build it back up!

American Idol

If you didn't watch American Idol last night, you really missed out. Each of the three remaining contestants sung three songs. There really were no bad performances, but Bo absolutely outsang Vonzell and Carrie on all three songs! I am sure that one of the girls will be going home tonight. Last night made Bo look like the next American Idol, but I am going to stand by my past prediction: Carrie will win, Bo will take second.

Armor All

Today I learned that Armor All will not damage your eyes if it comes in contact, only irritate them. Of course, I didn't know that at the moment I realized my son had just sprayed some directly into his face. This is the first sort of toddler-getting-into-trouble incident he's had. (And the first for me as well.) I suppose there will be many more. I don't look forward to them, but I do look forward to looking back on them sometime in the distant future. He's fine, by the way. (And so am I.) In case you ever need to know, just flush the eyes with water for ten minutes--you should be fine after that.

Brian "Head" Welch

I really don't know much about the band Korn but I found this story of interest. (Admittedly, it's partially because I'm from Bakersfield.) Brian "Head" Welch, formerly of Korn, committed his life to Christ recently. He has left the band and is working on a solo album. Here is a link to This Guy Falls Down's entry with the links to a few stories. Here is Brian's website.

Worth

I recently spoke to a group of women on the topic of our worth. It's easy to think that my worth is determined by the things I do or by what other people think of me. With a definition like this, my value fluctuates everyday based on who I'm comparing myself to and who's opinion I'm looking for. But think about how the value of any sort of item is determined. I like to imagine an old wooden chair. Maybe one that is very ornately carved, but also very worn and very fragile. I would not care to have something like this in my house--it sounds like junk to me. But it is possible that this chair might be sold at an antiques auction for thousands of dollars. Why? Because it is worth that to one person. It's not worth it to me. But because it's worth it to one person, that chair is valued at thousands of dollars.

When God gave his son Jesus to die in my place, he paid a price for me. To God, I am worth Jesus's death. It doesn't matter that no one else would do that for me. It doesn't matter what I have done, good or bad. It doesn't matter what other people think of me. My worth has been determined and the price has been paid.

Whenever I start to become concerned about whether other people approve of me, I try to remember these verses and the following song that I wrote:

1 Corinthians 7:23 - “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”

Matthew 10:29-31 - “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

You Are Worthy Little One

One disapproving look,
One broken heart,
All these judgments that are piled up on me.
When I imagine that others
Define my worth
I listen to You
And You say to me:

You are worthy little one.
Come into my presence.
You are worthy little one.
Come and sit by my throne.
You are worthy little one
To receive my blessing.
You are worthy little one
To be called My Own.

So when the winds of discouragement
Blow my way.
When sorrows like sea billows roll.
When none can be found
Who believes in me
I listen to You
And You say to me:

You are worthy little one.
Come into my presence.
You are worthy little one.
Come and sit by my throne.
You are worthy little one
To receive my blessing.
You are worthy little one
To be called My Own.

Mother's Day

Just a reminder that Mother's Day is just a few days away (Sunday, May 8). Don't forget to do something nice for the mothers in your life!!!

Clutter

My mind is so cluttered right now with so many things that I don't even know what to write about, but it's been several days so I wanted to post something. My desk is also cluttered. I'm not sure if the cluttered desk causes the cluttered mind or the other way around. When I used to spend most of my day at work in my own cubicle with my own desk, I could leave it a mess without any remorse. But since my cluttered desk is now at home and I share it and the space around it with my husband.... Well, I feel bad for making other people live in my mess. I thought about giving you an inventory of the load of miscellaneous items sitting here on this surface (perhaps somewhat entertaining) but then I realized, if I was going to the trouble of acknowledging each item, it would probably be a better use of my time to actually do something about them (much less entertaining). Well, actually, I'm not going to do either right now. Sorry for getting your hopes up!