An Act Of Encouragement

An Act of Encouragement

Your kindness will reward you, but your cruelty will destroy you.

Proverbs 11:17

As Dee was taking boxes into the moving van in Akron, Ohio, her husband called up the stairs, “Dee, you have a visitor!”

She was surprised to find Phyllis, a woman from her Bible study, perched quietly on a big box in the living room. Phyllis had never been to her home before. They’d never had coffee or gone to lunch. In fact, she was the quietest member of all the women in the Bible study Dee taught. Dee’s surprise grew as Phyllis silently and gently held out a beautiful afghan throw. For months she had been spending evenings crocheting this wonderful expression of love. Spontaneously Dee hugged her. At first Phyllis’s arms hung limply at her sides, but then she returned the embrace. Unwiped tears ran down their cheeks, and Dee’s heart was encouraged for yet another move.

Sometimes even more than words, an act of kindness or an unexpected and thoughtful gift from the heart can make the difference. It can bring sunshine into the life of someone who needs it. My father often said that actions speak louder than words. Who could you encourage this week with an act of kindness? How could you spread the fragrance of Christ by sharing something you have with someone, making a meal for a new mother just home from the hospital, or asking God how you might be a blessing even in small, practical ways to those you meet on your daily path? This is a question the Lord loves to answer. And as this verse says, as you extend kindness to others, your own soul will be rewarded.

—CHERI

Jesus, make me a blessing to people I know and meet. Give me your eyesight to see the needs of others and a giving heart that delights in extending a hand of kindness. Thank you for giving yourself that we might love others.

One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others.

—LEWIS CARROLL (PSEUDONYM FOR THE REVEREND CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON, 1832–1898), ENGLISH AUTHOR, CLERGYMAN, AND PHOTOGRAPHER