Encouragement

Acts 4 vv 36-37 

Encouragement. 

Try to be attentive to everything - be present to the person. 

Turn a blind eye to most things! 

Be ready occasionally to challenge a little for the sake of the Kingdom. 

Encourage a lot.

 "Choose life" 

 To be a person of encouragement is a choice, and for most of us it is a learned art.
We have great power over others - to build others up or knock others down.
Look at Christ's witness - "I have come to give you life, life to the full."
Remember the woman washing Christ's feet - when Simon the Pharisee criticised him Jesus answered "Simon, do you see this woman?"

The mission of giving one another courage is central to our mission.

Ignatius of Loyola was a hugely perceptive psychologist - he spoke of the human being as a battlefield roamed over by a good and a bad spirit - the bad spirit dispirits us, drags us down, the Spirit of God can challenge us but always leads us upwards. 

Before we can be encouragers to others, we must be given courage ourselves.

2 main ways - by our fidelity to prayer, going the hard miles in the midst of the sweeter moments, over the long haul it gives us courage. "The less I pray, the worse it gets!"

The other main source is the witness of other people - other people make God real to us.

Constantly renewed desire to look for the good in others. If we look for the good we will find it, if we only look for the angularities, we will find those! 

"If only I knew the full story of another person's life, I would find everyone lovable" 

Choose to live life in a spirit of praise and thanksgiving.
The people we know who live life with a lot of gratitude are life givers.
Live life not from a lamenting heart, but with praise. 

St Paul - "the authority which the Lord has given us is for building up, not for knocking people down"

Hebrews " every day, as long as this day lasts, keep encouraging each other so that none among you is led away by the lure of sin."