Think of who seems to need your encouragement the least -Now, go encourage her orhim. Even the encourager needs encouragement.
We all know that one person who always lifts us up. He or she always seems to be on top of the world, a smile on the face, a kind word on the lips. Every phone call is treated as important. Every conversation is focused. We leave feeling better than when we arrived. We feel a different energy when we’re in this person’s presence.
Sometimes we think that this person is “just like that”. He wakes every morning with that smile on his face. He drives every mile with a song in his heart. He has bluebirds circling his head, whistling their merry tune. After all, the energy we feel is drawn from a perpetual well of encouragement that fountains skyward like a geyser in Yellowstone, a fine mist of kindness drifting down on all around.
Some may be like this.
It’s more likely that this person chooses to place a smile on his or her face. It’s more likely that the encouragement comes from personal energy, a limited supply spent on those seeming to need it most. It’s more likely that this person feels more discouraged than those he’s encouraging. She chooses to lift rather than to be lifted. She chooses to add rather than subtract, even when it costs her personally. He decides to leave someone smiling in hopes that one day he will have reason to smile too.
Rest assured – even the encourager needs encouragement. Rest assured – a kind word, a thank you note, a encouraging letter, or a loving post is not lost on him. Rest assured – though you may not think about her, she considers you.
Eventually, the fine mist raining down on all around will be revealed to not be an unlimited geyser at all, but love being drawn from a limited personal supply, a well drilled in the soul. When the mist stops, we see that we took for granted a true miracle of God and, in so doing, we drained the well. We chose not to fill it, but to drain it. We chose to soak up and never give back. We chose to only see our need and ignore the giver.
Choose carefully. Once the well is drained, refilling takes a while, if it ever happens at all.