All Christians have spiritual gifts, those special attributes that God has given them to help others.  I used to wish that I could be a great worship leader or a gifted evangelist or be able to prophesy or be a natural helper or be rich in mercy, but I haven’t been given any of these gifts.   My gift is encouragement.  It doesn’t look fancy and may not get noticed much in today’s world, but I like it.  I can use it in both the written word and the spoken word.   I love that the centerpiece of the word encouragement is courage.  I believe that encouraging words have the power to equip others courage to tackle the next task, to face their fears, and to continue when they feel like quitting.

I also need to encourage myself in the same manner and let the wise and affirming words of others spur me on to grow as a person even when I don’t feel like it.  I can’t think of a single situation that isn’t improved by encouragement, so I will increase doing so as I enter into this next decade!

 

This post is part of a  31 Day Blogging Challenge entitled Embracing Fifty.  Please click here  to find all the posts in this series.  You can find the work of more bloggers participating in this series here. You’ll be glad you did!