Encouragement

Our family has quite a few pretty big life changes coming up here soon and as much as I am usually a very upbeat and positive person, every once in a while, something will happen that will slip me into a little bit of a funk.

This was one of those things on one of those days.

It started out great, but then something happened, and my little smiley-head light that runs constantly in my head got switched off for a moment.

The drapes in my brain dropped down blocking all light and not allowing me to see the glow of my faith in things to come.  I knew at that moment, that nothing was going to work out as it should and that I should really just give up right then, change all plans back into something that none of us wanted but that seemed inevitable and just keep plodding down the bleak course where I seemed to be heading.

When out of the blue, the phone rings and it is a woman on the other end of the line.  This is a woman who I have only met once in my life and who I had called a few times to see if she wanted to order anything from Pampered Chef because she had first said that she did, only to be told that no, she found something better elsewhere and she would not be ordering from me.  Which is fine, but why was she calling me?


She told me that she was calling me to place an order with me because her mother had reminded her that she did want something particular but not just because of that...

She was calling me because she had liked my attitude and my respectful persistence in calling her in order to farther my business.  She, as a business owner herself, said that my attitude made her rethink what she was doing in her own business and made her realize that not many people followed through on what they said that they would do.  She said that she hoped and expected that my business would go far.

I was surprised and pleased at this.  And, instead of just taking the order and hanging up the phone, I thanked her specifically.  Her words of encouragement came at just the right time.  I told her that I had been feeling a little down and that her kind words were a blessing to me, and I know that made her feel good as well.  

After hanging up with her, I thought about the whole encouragement thing.  How many times do we actually stop and say, 'You're doing a good job' or 'I appreciate you'?  Do we say it enough to our husbands?  Our wives?  Our friends? 

Our children?

But why don't we do it more often?  Giving encouragement to someone helps not only them, but ourselves, too.  How can you feel negative when you are honestly seeing and praising a good quality in someone else? 

So, I am making this a challenge for myself...

Tomorrow is Sunday, the beginning of the week.  I am challenging myself to purposefully and sincerely say something encouraging or write and send an encouraging note to at least one person every day this week. 

And by blessing other people, I know that I, too, will feel as equally blessed.

Anyone want to join me?