Focus Friday: Let's Focus on Encouragement

We had a great youth group meeting the other night. It's always good to see our wonderful group of high schoolers, but this week's topic really stayed with me the rest of the week. (I hope it stayed with all of them, too.)

We talked about compliments and how encouraging they can be. First we watched this youtube video:

In the video, people were able to give and receive compliments right on the street. It was touching to hear the nice things they said about each other and how each person reacted.

We had a good discussion in youth group about how we give and receive compliments. Often we get embarrassed and want to protest when someone gives us a compliment. We don't want to seem proud, even though compliments can really encourage us. We fail to give compliments sometimes because we don't want someone to get a big head or we feel like things become awkward when we compliment someone.

As we talked, I mentioned that I like to encourage people and Abbie (you remember Dear Abbie, don't you?) was quick to say, "You're really good at that." I was surprised, but I didn't push the compliment aside. I smiled and said "Thank you." Her simple comment stayed with me and has encouraged me ever since then. It's nice to know that someone recognizes my efforts to encourage others, even though I often feel like I don't do it enough.

I hope the students thought about compliments and encouragement as they went to school the rest of the week. I hope they took a moment to say something nice to other students as they went about their day. 

There's a quote I think of often and it helps me to be more deliberate about encouraging others:

"One word or note brings more encouragement than a thousand thoughts never expressed."

We may miss the chance to compliment and encourage hundreds of people, but the times when we do take the time and make the effort to say something or write a little note can mean so much to the person we bless with our encouragement. Let's look for ways we can encourage others every day.

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." (I Thessalonians 5:11 NIV)

Are you good at complimenting and encouraging others? How can focusing on God help you to look for ways to encourage others with a kind word or note?

PS - As I write I think I've addressed this topic in another Focus Friday post. Forgive me for repeating myself, but I think it's a topic that's worth bringing up every once in a while. I'm going to turn 50 on Sunday, so I'm afraid I may start to repeat myself even more in the years ahead. You'll have to bear with me and just ignore me if I start to ramble.

Focus Friday: Where is your focus?

It's Friday once again (they seem to roll around so fast, don't they?) and we're at the end of a week of camping. We've gone boating, gone swimming, watched movies, played board games, cooked at the campfire, killed flies in the camper, eaten way too much junk food, and have basically had a very relaxing week. 

It's always good to get away from the normal routine for a while, but it's pretty hard to get there. I always seem to stress out too much in the days leading up to camping. I don't want to leave the house looking too chaotic, I want to make sure I'm not leaving any bills unpaid, I worry about the stuff I ordered on amazon arriving while we're gone and maybe getting rained on, and I start to think it would be easier to just not go.

Yes, it would be easier, but we all need to get away once in a while. We need a chance to just relax and get some rest and do fun things that will renew our spirits. We need to spend time with our families and reconnect when the normal routine keeps us all running in different directions. We need to laugh together and make some fun memories to get us through rough times in the future.

So, I don't have much for you this week. No profound thoughts and no big insights. I would, though, like to remind you to keep thinking about where your focus is as you go through each day. I saw a neat picture on someone's blog this morning and I decided to go to the site they used to make it. Tagxedo.com will analyze your blog, website, twitter feed, etc. and make a word picture that shows the words you use the most. Here's mine for this blog:

 

 Of course, Focus and Friday are huge, but I'm also very glad to see that God is one of the biggest words in my heart picture. That's fitting, because He's the biggest thing in my own heart - and when He's the biggest, then I know that my focus is where it should be.

Have a great weekend everyone!

If someone were to make a word picture of the things you focus on the most, what would it look like? Would God be one of the biggest words, or would other things look bigger?