Can reaching out to encourage others give me back my joy?

Today's Precious Prodigal Post is at = http://bit.ly/1uEbGJg Can reaching out to encourage others give me back my joy? #ReachOut Like what you see? Please "Like" us and "Share" this post with FB

Proverbs 15:23 "A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!"

Because I am part of my church’s Heart2Home ministry, I often find myself in the homes of people who are in crisis. Heart2Home tries to be the hands and feet of our pastor, our church, and our God to put our arms around our hurting people and be an encouragement when they need it most. We don’t provide financial assistance, but then money doesn’t really matter when your heart is breaking, does it?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone into a home in crisis hoping to be a blessing only to find I was the one who came away blessed. That used to surprise me, but it doesn’t anymore. I taught my kids that “open hands are for giving, not just receiving,” but I’ve learned by application that it is in that very giving that we receive. And sometimes the people who are hurting the most also have the most to give.

Wait a minute! You don’t know what I’m going through, how damaged I am, how many times I’ve failed my God, my family, myself! You don’t know how weak I am! Of course, I know those things even if I don’t know your story. After all, you’re only a flawed human being just like all the rest of us.

Sequoia trees are amazingly large and strong. They stand there several hundred feet tall, live for thousands of years and are able to withstand almost anything. Yet they will grow and thrive in just a few feet of soil.

The secret of their strength is that their roots intertwine with the roots of other sequoia trees. Their own survival depends on their providing shelter and shared strength to other sequoia trees. That's the premise and underlying purpose of all the self-help groups, and there's a reason for that. It works.

Anyone who knows me is aware that I have my own heartaches and my own failures. My pastor often reminds me that I am “just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” And he’s right. All I have…all any of us have to offer the Lord is broken pieces. But God will use them if we give them to Him. And He will bless us in the giving however weak we are.

You do have something to give…even if it’s only your quiet presence. But when you add to that some gentle words of encouragement, those “words in good season,” what a blessing and encouragement you can be! In spite of your own weakness, in spite of your failings, in spite of your broken heart, reaching out like the roots of a sequoia tree to embrace another hurting person will nourish your own soul. And it might just give you back your joy.

Challenge for Today: What might happen if we, just for today, reached out to others who was hurting…not to “fix” them but to encourage them?

Reviews

[MomzillaNC]

This is an absolutely brilliant essay. I agree with all you write here and wish more people felt the same. These are the lessons I try to teach my son.

He has a heart of compassion and empathy. He tries to visit regularly at local nursing homes, just to hang out and visit with the folks, just to make sure that someone, even if it's just a 10 year old kid, is there to listen to their stories and be sure they know they still matter and have not been forgotten.

I think people have convinced themselves that reaching out costs too much. They simply do not realize that just their presence is a treasured gift.