I just want to talk about the encouragement of friends today. Today was not an easy day for me. I learnt that although I was not rejected for the school that I want to go to next year, I was deferred to the next round of applications. I also learnt that a close friend of mine's Dad possibly has cancer. I struggled with problems today of what I am going to do with my future, how I am going to raise money for my missions trip to Texas, and what to say to encourage this friend when I really do not feel all that great about life myself?
But then I saw how encouraging my friends can and could be. They didn't let me wallow in my own self-pity and sorrow, but tried to encouragement and keep my mind off the immediate problems and on the bigger scheme of things. One of my friends after hearing what had gone on in my day and how worried I was asked me if I wanted him to pray for me right there and now. So in the supper line this friend prayed to Jehovah God and asked Him to give me wisdom and strength and that I would have patience and follow His will. I don't think my friend will ever know how much that meant to me.
The care of friends is something that is relatively novel to me, but something that I can know see incredibly important. Before this year, I was relatively a loner. I didn't trust anyone and relied on no one. I believed that if I couldn't do it myself then it wasn't worth doing. Deep down I wanted friends desperately, but I thought that because no friends were just appearing that every one hated me. What negative thinking!!!! This kind of thinking brought me down so low last year that I seriously considered quiting all that God had for me, and just making my own way. I denied all that I saw God doing around me and believed that because (as I wrongly thought) that no one liked me that God didn't like me either. But then I noticed the verse in Proverbs which says that a man who wants friends must show himself to be friendly (loose paraphrase). This slightly obvious and extremely practical piece of information just had totally escaped my notice before then. Sure, I had read it but I never really understood it. I thought that if I wanted friends that they would just show up. I didn't think that I had to act as a friend to have friends.
After realising this principle I noticed that people were more likely to respond positively to my interaction. And secondly, I noticed that encouragement through friendship is a great positive attribute in a friendship.
If you are a friend to people that you know are going through something difficult, or even if you don't know if they are going through something challenging, I will give a challenge. Find ways every day to encourage someone else. If it is just something small like a little facebook note, or a written note, or a nice thing to say to them, a hug, a Tim Horton's coffee or any other little thing you will never fully know what you have done to that person's heart. Maybe you will stop someone from giving up, or perhaps it will just give them something to smile about that day. But whether it does something noticeable, or whether you receive thanks, encouraging others is never in vain.
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