Putting Heart Into Someone

We live in a world where often people will rather dampen your spirit than encourage you. Maybe you have decided to try and lose weight or eat healthier and you mention this to friends. Yet they reply, "That's fine, but that diet won't be enough" or "Those vegetables need to be eaten raw otherwise it is useless." And before you've started you have given up. Yet imagine if we encouraged one another more, seeking always to build each other up. It's interesting that the word encourage literally carries the idea of "putting courage into someone" or "putting heart into someone." It comes through Old French encoragier, from corage, meaning heart or spirit. So when we encourage someone, we are doing far more than simply saying something nice; we are putting heart back into them, strengthening their spirit and giving them courage to keep going. And there is no better place to seek to encourage than in our Christian walk. The world is full enough of those who disdain God. How valuable is it when we seek every opportunity, however small it may seem, to put heart into each other. "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Who can you encourage today with your words? (Craig B). Open Bible – bit.ly/1Th5v11