You Could Be Someone’s Whole Day
A two-line message you’ll forget by lunch might be the thing that holds someone together.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 — “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
We overestimate what encouragement has to be. We think it has to be profound, or perfectly timed, or somehow earned. So we don’t send the text.
But you have no idea what someone is quietly carrying on the day your name lights up their phone.
“Thinking about you today.” “You handled that so well.” “I’m really glad you exist.” Ten seconds for you. Possibly the whole day for them.
Paul says “encourage one another and build each other up” — and then adds something easy to skim right past: “just as in fact you are doing.” He isn’t scolding them into it. He’s catching them already doing it and saying, in effect: yes — more of that. Keep going.
Encouragement isn’t flattery. It’s telling someone the true good thing you noticed but assumed they already knew. They almost never do.
So think of one person right now. What’s the kind, true thing you’ve thought about them but never actually said?
Send it. You might forget it by lunch. They might carry it for a year.
Circle up!
Shannon Formby, Founder of My Faith Journey
