Bless One More

 At the beginning of 2022, our pastor proposed that rather than making a new year's resolution this year we should consider listening to God as He led us to use our gifts and talents in some special way for Him. This was my first nudge toward what is becoming a year of blessing for me. I have always enjoyed encouraging people, but I felt a real calling to share encouragement on a larger scale this year, to write notes to others rather than just thinking about them or even just praying for them. The past couple of years seem to have been filled with divisiveness and discouragement. The fallout from all that is that people are hurting. Many are emotionally wounded and struggling. I could never help everyone, but I could reach out to my friends and family. Everyone needs affirmation. Words are powerful. Words shared carelessly and even maliciously have taken their toll. I became determined that MINE would be uplifting.

Before I had totally figured out that encouragement was going to be a deeper calling for me this year, I wrote a New Year’s Day blog in which I shared a blessing for each member of my immediate family. I am pretty sure that blog was God starting the process of this all within me and shaping my heart to be ready for His plan.  Then about mid-January, when I was home with COVID, we had a training day at the preschool. I was able to participate via Zoom. We did a team-building exercise where each person wrote their name at the top of a paper, and then the papers were passed around the room so that the other staff people could write a simple statement of something they liked about that person. I wasn’t in the room, so I didn’t get to write messages, but they did pass around a paper with my name at the top. I got to soak up those words of affirmation once I returned to school. That just solidified what I already knew: words of affirmation are a balm for the soul. I started forming the idea of writing notes of encouragement to others beyond my immediate family.

Since then, I have been busy writing emails, note cards, and Facebook messages to my tribe. I’ve even been creating my own note cards on Shutterfly so the messages are just right. There are so many people I want to write to. I feel like it may take me FOREVER, and sometimes that frustrates me. I want to get the messages sent quickly. With each name I see, words come to me that I need to share with that person, and I don’t want anyone to have to wait to hear their words. It is a holy time as God gives me the words and the messages that are for each person. But there are SO MANY PEOPLE!!! Each note takes time. Each word is chosen carefully.

Yes, I feel like it may take me forever, but I am learning to be OK with that. I don’t want to cut off the fountain of blessing. I don’t want to stop sharing the words. I don’t want to get in the way of God. I want to take my time and listen to Jesus as I share the right words for each person at the right time. I hope there will always be one more person that I want to encourage, one more spirit that I want to lift. I hope I won’t lose that longing to bless one more.

The best thing about encouragement is that it can take so many forms, and truly anyone can do it. Spoken words are powerful. If we all stopped for a minute and said “Thank you!” or maybe “Wow! Well done!” can you imagine the difference we could make in the day of another person? If we start looking for and commenting on the good things in life, we often change our own perspective - which might mean less time for divisiveness and discouragement. 

Written words also have power. I like to write the words, so people can keep the note or the email and look back on it if they need that. God has called me to use the gifts He has given me to write those notes. I have a little notebook where I am keeping track of each person to whom I have written a note since I shared that blog on New Year’s Day. That notebook has 105 names in it now! I find that difficult to believe, because it would have been impossible to do on my own; and yet, my goal is that by the time you read this, that count will be wrong because I will have written more notes.

Maybe God is nudging you to begin (or to continue) using your strengths and gifts for Him. Maybe He is challenging you to use those gifts in a bigger way, beyond what you think you can do. You definitely do not have to wait for a new year to begin this kind of “resolution.” I encourage you to listen carefully and lean into His plan for you. God’s calling to you will be different from His calling to me, but if you are feeling that urge to share of yourself, don’t ignore it. Embrace it. Do it. And then listen again, so you can bless one more.