Leadership Thought: Pack Your Pockets with Pennies and Be an Encourager.

Dear Friends

Are you a hard-wired encourager? I mean does encouragement come natural to you? Are you the kind of person who is always looking  for opportunities to encourage others? I call such people ‘add value lookers.’ No matter where they are or who they are with, they are always searching to find ways to encourage and add value to others.

I am a great believer in spiritual gifts, and I believe at the time of conversion every believer is given at least one spiritual gift, some even more than one.  Peter teaches, “As each one has received a gift, minister to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God”(1 Peter 4:10). I often wonder what the church or the world would be like if every believer possessed that gift of encouragement.

But alas, we know that not everyone has that gift nor even has that natural  inclination. It sometimes appears that there are those with just the opposite gift, the gift of discouragement. Rather than being encouragers and lifting others up, they are discouragers who look for ways to tear people down. 

You might ask, “What if I am not hardwired to be an encourager, and encouragement is not a normal and natural part of my make-up, what can I do?”

Let me suggest you do the following. At the beginning of each day take five pennies and stuff them in your right pocket. And during the day every time you say something or do something that is encouraging, take one penny out of your right pocket and place it in your left pocket. As you go through the day, continue to look for encouraging things to say and do, and each time you encourage someone simply transfer one of those pennies from your right to your left pocket. At the end of the day, give yourself a pat on the back if your right pocket is empty and your left pocket is full. “Pocket exchanging” is a wonderful way to remind you to become an  intentional encourager, something that many find hard to do. 

When I am talking with people, I often imagine them wearing a sign dangling from their neck that says, “Please help me feel important.” When you are talking with someone, listen or look for something that impresses you about them, and then before you finish your conversation, ask,  “Do you know what I like about you?” and then tell them. Be sincere. This is not the time for some ‘phony baloney.’

If you want to be remembered by people, try being an intentional encourager, yes one of those ‘add value lookers’ I previously mentioned. 

As someone has written, “Flatter me and I may not believe you, criticize me and I may not like you, ignore me and I may never forgive you, but encourage me and I will never forget you.”

Why stop at five pennies? Why not stuff your pocket full of pennies, and then start emptying? I think at the end of the day you’ll be glad you did, but even gladder will be the recipients of your encouragement.

And remember, encouragement is biodegradable; it has a short shelf life as David Jeremiah says, so pack those pockets every day.

Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom