I recently heard this quote: "Be an encourager. The world has plenty of critics already."
I love this sentiment -- primarily because it's a reminder I need to hear. It's surprisingly easy to fall into a pattern of discovering the downside, or pointing out a pitfall, or focusing on the one thing that's wrong until that nugget-sized "wrong" thing overshadows the mountain of things that are right.
In a recent conversation with a friend, we both admitted to feeling out-of-sorts lately. While I can't recall our exact exchange, I'm pretty sure it included words like lethargic, apathetic, halfhearted, and blah, and was punctuated with inspiring sentences like, "There's a serious lack of chocolate in my house," and "Do you ever go to sleep knowing that you already want to take a nap the next day?"
Neither of us were stellar candidates for motivational speaking that afternoon.
But the arrival of fall seems to be a harbinger of hope. Fall has multiple charming attributes -- changing leaves, crisp temperatures, cozy sweaters, cute boots, football Saturdays, to name a few -- but it also invites me to be more grateful. (I'm looking at you, trifecta of autumn hashtags: #grateful #thankful #blessed.)
When I live with a heightened sense of gratitude, it's not only much easier to encourage others, but also to encourage myself. I start to speak to myself more boldly. Look up, child. Lift your head. There are so many blessings waiting for you to notice, if you'd just have eyes to see them. You are not alone. Turn your thoughts and feelings to God.
The quote is correct. There world has plenty of critics. Be an encourager, even an encourager to your very own soul.
Here Here!! Gratitude can be such a great way to pull us out of those blahs. Thank you for this timely reminder, my friend.
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