Encourage

This morning was busy... just like every other morning.  

Madeline went to school early for choir and I dropped Gavin off as usual.  Wednesdays are my bible study days so I usually try to have everything together for myself when I drop him off at school.  Gavin gets dropped off at 9 a.m.  and bible study doesn't start  until 10 a.m. so I had an hour to kill.  I seriously debated on coming home and just doing nothing for a while but instead decided to run to JoAnn's Fabric and Crafts to get the rest of the fabric for a project Madeline wants to do. 


I wandered around the store, talking on the phone... remembering how much my dad hates when people try to talk to sales clerks while on their phone.  Dad would not be proud of my behavior at JoAnn's but just like a defiant teenager, I continued on...


Finally, I had everything I needed and made my way to the checkout line.  I had exactly 20 minutes to check out and get to church.  Despite there being two ladies checking people out, it seemed to be taking FOREVER but why would I expect anything different.  That's how it goes.  You're in a hurry... the clerk is NOT!  


While I was impatiently patiently awaiting my turn, out of the corner of my eye I caught a young girl walking my way.  I didn't turn around but I could clearly hear her speaking to the lady waiting behind me, 

"Excuse me, Ma'am.  I am selling bookmarks for 50 cents.  Would you like to buy one?"  

She had such a sweet voice and was so incredibly polite but despite her sweet and respectful nature, the lady did exactly what I would normally do; she told her no.  

At the moment that she said no, I could still see the little girl out of the corner of my eye.  her eyes fell to the floor... her shoulders dropped and she took a step back... defeated.  I remembered feeling that way myself.  I remember trying something and failing.  I remembered reaching out to someone and being rejected. 

I remembered all of those moments in my life that I have physically feel all of my courage pouring out of my body in an instant.  
 

I wish I could say that my instant thought was to reach out but it wasn't.  "She will have to get used to hearing no" is what I thought.  That's what I heard my voice saying.   The truth is my heart is not nearly as big as I wish it were... Nope, not on its own.  It isn't warm and caring... not on its own.  It isn't generous and patient... not on its own.  Yet, in the moment that the cold and uncaring thought was completed in my mind, I heard another voice saying "Check your wallet for 50 cents."  As I was reaching for my purse and digging in my change wallet... that is usually empty because I keep my change in the car for trips through the drive-thru, I prayed "Oh Lord, let there be 50 cents in my purse."  I was filled with sweet anticipation at the thought that I could reach out to this precious defeated discouraged little girl.  Of course, there was 50 cents in my wallet today. 



I turned around, despite the fact that my turn at the register had come.  I walked right past the lady behind me.

"Excuse me, young lady.  Did I hear you say that you are selling bookmarks?"  I asked.


Her eyes lit up and twinkled like stars in the sky.  "Yes, I am!"  she replied in almost disbelief.


"Could you tell me how much they are?" I asked as I bent down and looked into her now happy face. 


"They are 50 cents" she replied with a new confidence.

"Well, I have 50 cents and my daughter was just saying that she needed a bookmark.  Could I buy one of them?"  

As her mother and I checked out on separate registers the young girl told me of her love for books.  She especially loves the Cul-de-Sac Kids series but enjoys about any mystery.  She proudly told me that she's a big book worm and that reading was one of her favorite things to do.  She thanked me more than once.  My new friend is an amazing, smart and beautiful young lady.  I thoroughly enjoyed the short chat we had.  


Tonight I shared this story with Chris and the kids and what this very brief experience taught me.  We are so powerful.  We really are.  We have the power to rip every bit of courage out of someone.  We can cause their eyes to fall to the ground, their shoulders to slump, them to walk backwards and literally retreat and not talk to anyone else....

OR

We can literally place COURAGE inside of them.  

The word encourage means "to put courage inside" of something.  Every single day we all have this amazing power... dare I even call it a superpower!  We can lift up someone's chin, straighten their stance and FILL them WITH courage.  


I'd have missed this whole thing if it hadn't been for the Holy Spirit telling me to check my purse for 50 cents.  That's definitely not what I would normally have done... afterall, I was in a hurry...  I wonder how many opportunities I've missed because I was in a hurry.

So, let us be reminded that we have a superpower but if we don't slow down and take time to really listen to and obey the Spirit, we might totally miss the opportunities to use it!

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11