Courage and Encouragement
Written by Esther Townsend
One of my best friends works in customer communications and oh my goodness, I take my hat off to her!! Every single day she sits at the frontline of the company answering calls, tweets and emails from people who are desperate to tell her how disappointed, annoyed and angry they are. Occasionally someone emails saying they loved what they bought, but on the whole it’s wall to wall complaints… and it’s exhausting!
We live in a culture of feedback. I’m constantly getting emailed to review the jumper I’ve just bought, or rate the podcast I’m listening to or asked to do a “short” quiz about whether or not I find the BBC i-player easy to use. We are always rating or being rated on social media, in exams at uni, or reports at work. Living in this world, it’s easy to think that an encouragement is simply a five-star review or a comment saying something like “Yaaaaass Queen <3”, but encouragement is much, much more than that. Someone blew my mind a few years ago by describing encouragement as simply the act of giving someone courage. I found that definition so helpful. Encouragement is not something fluffy and nice to say, it is the act of empowering and releasing people to face whatever they are facing. Encouragement is therefore transformational. I can certainly recall moments in my life when an encouraging text or a quick conversation has made me think “wow! They really think I can do this… maybe I can?”.
Paul’s writings in the Bible are BIG on encouragement. He does not decorate his letters to the early church with lovely compliments, instead he is in the business of heavy duty courage-building. Paul urges the people of Thessalonica to “encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thess 5:11). As Christians we believe that absolutely everybody is made in the image of God, made in the likeness of the one that is love itself. And when we encourage people, we are choosing to see the God in them. I often fall into the trap of viewing praise and worship as a one-to-one activity between me and God, but I think that encouragement comes under the banner of worship too. Seeing and celebrating the goodness, justice and compassion in people is the same as praising the one that is the personification of those things. Also, seeing God in other people can help us recognise God in us. Being on joyful lookout for God, be it in people or creation, is the foundation of what worship is.
Last summer I helped out on a CPAS Falcon holiday for teenagers that face disadvantage in their day-to-day lives. Many of these young people were labelled as the ‘naughty one’ in their home lives and have worn that badge for a long time. During that week I feel I witnessed the transformative nature of encouragement more than ever. At the beginning of the week, as leaders we consciously looked out for qualities to encourage in the young people, and it was an absolute privilege to watch those qualities grow and bloom as the holiday rolled on. The surprise and pride in their faces as they were told that they were funny, creative, kind, wise etc. I also realised on this holiday that as a society we are not great at showcasing encouraging words. These teenagers had plenty of words they could choose from to describe something negatively, but the list of positives was mainly: pretty, fit, funny or nice. And while I would be very flattered to be called any or all of these things, there is way more we can celebrate!
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I worry about coming off a bit strong when I want to encourage someone. I may sound weirdly intense or like I’m hitting on them. But encouragement can come in many forms, it doesn’t have to be a wordy text or a double-sided birthday card (although they are great!). It can be asking someone to join a team your part of, or handing them a microphone when they’ve got something to say, or simply asking their opinion.
Is there anyone in your life that could do with some more courage? Is there anything you can do or say to encourage them? Are there any spaces in your life that are in need of transformation through encouragement?