en·cour·age

1 To inspire with hope, courage, or confidence; hearten.
2 To give support to; foster.
3 To stimulate; spur.
(The American Heritage Dictionary)

Almost every morning, when I pray, I ask the Lord, “Please help me be a blessing in someone’s life today.” But there are days that go by, when I just don’t see an opportunity to accomplish this goal.

Yesterday, as we were on our way to the restaurant for our Saturday breakfast, Dan told me about a certain man at church, who has been such an encouragement to him the past few months. And that’s when it struck me - this man has been a blessing in Dan's life through the simple act of encouragement.

Maybe I have been thinking like Naaman, in the Old Testament, who almost missed out on being cured of his leprosy, because he thought the prophet’s instruction, to dip seven times in the River Jordan, was too simple to accomplish a miraculous healing. His servant girl had to admonish him, “Had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash and be clean?’”

Similarly, Naaman's servant girl, if she were by my side, might be telling me, “Had God told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when He asks you to be an encourager?” I can be an encourager every day in someone’s life, if it’s no more than sending a note card when someone is ill or letting someone know that I've noticed their good work.

Seeing opportunities, every day, to be a blessing in someone's life has just become a much more realistic and achievable goal for me.

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." (1 Thessalonians 5:11)