Cards On The Wall

Cards on the Wall

Encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Jim Caldwell, who coached alongside me in Tampa Bay and Indianapolis and then succeeded me as head coach of the Colts when I retired, began writing cards to his daughter Natalie when she left home to attend college. She was several states away, and their schedules—his as a football coach and hers as a basketball player—made times together and even phone calls very sporadic. So every time Natalie needed money, Jim not only sent a check, he also enclosed a note of encouragement and affirmation. “I wasn’t sure how much mail she received,” he said. He didn’t think he had much to say that was particularly profound, or even that she was hoping for notes from him. He just wanted to encourage her.

When Jim was finally able to visit her apartment, he saw all of his cards taped to the living room wall at eye level—every one of them. “All of a sudden, I realized I hadn’t written her nearly enough,” he said. And he realized how much a father’s words can mean to his child.

Encouragement is powerful. It has the potential to change people’s attitudes, which can change how they react to situations, which can change the course of their days, their weeks, or even their years. There are plenty of forces in the world that discourage us, but not many people go out of their way to be encouraging. Be one of them. The people around us—especially our family members—are in need of encouragement every day.

Don’t get so caught up in the day-to-day issues of life that you forget to pause and say encouraging words. Your effort to do that will not only benefit those you’re encouraging, it will also benefit you. Your positive words, especially if they are repeated often, are an investment that will pay off in people’s lives for years to come.

Uncommon Key > Your encouraging words have more power than you think, and people need to hear them more often than you think. Take a moment now to think of someone whom you can reach out to today and then follow through and make that connection.