If encouragement is loosely defined as “offering someone hope, support, or confidence” then what does that look like?
What does “encouragement with skin on” look like?
One simple idea is to just listen.
If you want to provide encouragement, listen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote
“A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud.”
We all need those kind of friends in our life.
Sometimes, the very act of listening while someone works out a problem for themselves is incredibly useful. They don’t need advice, they don’t need feedback. All they really need is to listen.
Really listen.
Put down the phone. Turn off the television or radio. Close the lid of the laptop. Turn and face them and listen with your whole body.
“You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.” –M. Scott Peck
When silence happens, let it. Sit there in the silence and give your friend time for thoughts to form.
Listen.
Drink in their words.
“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said” –Peter Drucker
If you want to be an encourager, learn to listen.
Listening is an amazing gift.
It’s an incredible way to offer someone support.
Encouragement happens when we listen.
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God is the perfect encourager.
In part, that is because God Listens.
When I pray, God is someone with “whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud.”
“let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” — Hebrews 10:22
When I talk to God, he really listens.
“Evening and morning and noon, will I pray, and cry out aloud and He shall hear my voice.”–Psalm 55: 17
In prayer, God hears my heart. Even when I can’t exactly put it into words. He is there, “hearing what isn’t said.”
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.” — Psalms 139:23
What do you think? Is listening easy or it something you struggle with?
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