Have you gotten over election campaign fatigue yet? Shortly
before the Presidential election, a retailer told me sales were markedly down –
seems the American public was simply worn out by the overwhelmingly negative
campaigning. Feelings of widespread discouragement had set it, to the extent
that people lacked even the initiative to go out and buy stuff!
But it doesn’t take rancorous rhetoric, or even the media’s
fixation on accentuating the negative, to feel discouraged. Challenges at work
can drag us down. Financial pressures – particularly at a time when TV
commercials are urging us to give lavishly during the Christmas season – can
easily keep our smiles turned upside-down. Sometimes we feel like the person
working out on a treadmill or exercise bike who’s going no place really fast.
So as we’re pondering our Christmas lists, wondering what’s
the best gift for Aunt Susie, Uncle George or cherished friends, perhaps we
should consider giving a gift that’s priceless, yet in reality would cost us
very little: Encouragement.
One of my favorite people in the Bible is Barnabas, whom we
meet for the first time in Acts 4. We’re told about “Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is
translated Son of Encouragement)…having land, sold it, and brought the money
and laid it at the apostles’ feet” (Acts 4:36-37).
It doesn’t take long to discover why this fellow deserved
the “Son of Encouragement” nickname. As the previous passage points out, he was
generous, a wholehearted giver who was eager to support the early Church.
Later we learn that after the conversion of Saul, the formerly
zealous persecutor of Jesus’ followers, it was Barnabas who took the risk of
coming alongside the Pharisee who had literally seen the light. Barnabas became
a mentor for Saul, whose name was later changed to Paul, and they joined in
several miraculous missionary journeys.
When they parted ways, it actually was because Barnabas was
continuing to encourage. This time it was his nephew, John Mark, whom Paul had
written off after the young man had deserted their mission, perhaps struggling
with a case of homesickness. Years later, without mentioning Barnabas and his resolve
to give his relative the benefit of the doubt, Paul wrote to his own protégé,
Timothy, “Get Mark
and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11).
Can
you imagine the impact it had, first on Saul and much later John Mark, to hear
Barnabas say, despite evidence to the contrary, “I believe in you”?
We
don’t have to be mind-readers or equipped with extraordinary powers of
observation to recognize that many people around us are weighed down by
discouragement. Whether it’s the widespread malaise that seems to afflict the
world around us, or very personal struggles, lots of folks are discouraged. Do
they need to go to professional counselors, or make a series of appointments
with psychologists? Or get prescriptions for mood-shifting medications?
For
some, that might be the case. But for most of us, simple words of encouragement
or kind gestures that say “I care” and “I’m here for you” are enough to lift
spirits and enable them to recapture the “merry” usually associated with this
Christmas season.
With
email, texting and instant messaging, few people actually write notes anymore.
So why not send one to someone who could use a lift? Not only will they become
heartened to know they’re not alone, but also might be so shocked to receive an
old-fashioned pen-to-paper note that they’ll even forget what had them so
discouraged.
Perhaps
as you’re looking past Christmas and pondering goals or resolutions for the New
Year, you might make coming alongside someone desperately in need of
encouragement a practical and, as I noted, very inexpensive gift. All it would
take would be a little time, a bit of energy, and a willingness to let him or
her feel important, that they matter, and offer assurance that better days lie
ahead.
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