Dear Friends
This Sunday our pastors were surprised when we were called us up front
during the service to receive special recognition. I guess October is
Pastor Appreciation Month. I don't know who first suggested this special day.
Maybe it was some pastor who was going through a tough time and who himself was
badly in need of some encouragement. In any event, I am grateful for the day
for who doesn't like to be appreciated?
The word appreciate means to raise in value, and this is just
what encouragement does; it raises the value of the person receiving it.
But it also has significant benefits for the person giving it. The writer
of Proverbs reminds us that "He who is generous prospers,
and whoever refreshes others will be refreshed."
Encouragement is oxygen to the soul. We can't live very long
without it. Someone remarked, encouragement is biodegradable; it has a short
shelf life, for as soon as we receive it, we quickly need another
dose.
Everyone loves an encourager. "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.
I often think back to one day when encouragement changed my life
and my ministry. I had been pastoring in Greenville, Pa for four years, and
suddenly I found myself looking discouragement square in the eye. I was tired,
discouraged, and feeling like I had not accomplished all that I had set out to
do. I began asking myself if I was really the one who was best prepared to lead
the church, and I seriously began thinking it might be time to look for a new challenge.
I guess I wasn't very good about hiding my feelings for somehow
word got out to the congregation, and sensing my discouragement, they performed
one of the greatest acts of encouragement I have ever received. It was shortly
before Valentine's Day when my mailbox began filling up. They were love
letters from the congregation dressed up as Valentines. Someone
had orchestrated a love letter writing campaign, and for the next few
weeks my mailbox was brimming full of letters written by different members of
the congregation. They were letters of encouragement. They were filled with
gratitude and appreciation for me and my ministry. They screamed, "Tom, we
love you."
Those Valentine love letters, overflowing with gratitude and
appreciation kept me in Greenville for another three years, a time that proved
to be one of the most productive periods of any ministry I have enjoyed. And to
this day those 'love letters" continue to remain as some of my most
valuable deposits in my bank account of memories.
I wonder how many people quit to soon because no one ever came
along to encourage them.
Why not take some time today to write or call someone who might
just need a little dose of encouragement? Like those loving Greenville folks,
you just might change the course of someone's life, and what could be
more exciting ort more rewarding than that?
Yours in faith and friendship,
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