Encouragement

I had a really cool Zoom call last night with my friend William Barnett. He has a ministry called Storytellers Creative Arts in Naples, FL that is doing some really great work. He started off our call with a question. “How can I encourage you today?” What a great question! Think about that word encourage. Of course the main part of the word is courage and the prefix “en” speaks to giving. My friend was literally asking me, “How can I give you courage today?” What a great gift, the gift of courage. Maybe we all need to take a look at how encouraging we are being. 

After all, this creative life requires courage. You have to create something no one has ever seen before and put that creation out there before the world. That is a courageous act in and of itself, but now look at what we do. We do that same process but we try to also include some sort of a message from the Lord. We are using our creative work to represent the Creator of the Universe. Talk about something that requires courage, and that’s when it hit me, One of the places this blog and all my other materials needs to improve is in the area of encouragement. So let me put it to you this way. Consider your gift/talent etc. It was given to you by a good God, for you to use to His glory. Think about what that means. The Lord, the Creator of all things, has invested some of Him amazing creativity, something of immense value in you, so that you can use it to benefit His Kingdom. Think of the trust He has in you to use this valuable thing and be encouraged. Your talent is a sign that, in some way,  God believes in you. 

I believe in you too. Put that good gift to work and when you have finished, do it again and be encouraged, The God of the Universe is at work in your life and He loves you.

I am going to close by asking my friend William’s question. How can I encourage you today? Leave me a message in the comments, and if you’d like to check out William’s ministry go to scanaples.org.