Encouragers grasp what is but they also comprehend what can be. Encouragers acknowledge the real and the ideal. A person who only sees what is real but cannot see the ideal is an auditor, an accountant – not an aspiration advancer. A person who only imagines what can be without understanding what is – casts unattainable vision. Encouragers spot the actual and the possible, the present certainty and the future hope.
In a day of political corruption and distorted media reports, so many are crying out, “Tell it like it is!” Honesty is important, but real encouragers go the next step – seeing it as it could be; telling it like it could be. In the late 1800s, American education advocate Elisabeth Harrison said, “The men who are lifting the world upward and onward are those who encourage more than criticize.”
“My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ.” (Colossians 2:2 NIV)
“Encouragement is speaking a word of hope. It is expressing to another person—and to yourself—the sure certainty that God created you with a greater potential for good and that God desires to help you fulfill your potential.
Your future can be better than your past or present.
You can grow and develop and be ever more transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
You can experience greater fulfillment and wholeness than you are presently experiencing.
You can have an even more abundant life than the one you presently have.” (Charles Stanley, Sharing the Gift of Encouragement)
We need people who root for us –exhorters, inspirers, coaches, helpers, mentors, teachers, parents, pastors. We all benefit from encouragement and we should all encourage others. Be an encourager!
I appreciate the hundreds of hours that VFCA volunteer coaches invest in kids. Thank you, coaches! I enjoyed watching my daughter Kimberlyn’s game last night. Down 12 with less than 3 minutes to go in the last quarter, the ladies mounted a great comeback – with Coach Deahl and Coach Ruff cheering them on! They coach ladies differently than they coached guys twenty years ago.
I am thankful the coaches at VFCA seek to embody Paul’s command, “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” (Ephesians 4:29 NLT) I cheer for the New Orleans Saints, but I think most NFL coaches would benefit from Paul’s wisdom!
Great coaches like Vince Lombardi or Paul Bryant have a knack for realizing when a player needs correction or encouragement. Vince Lombardi was a master motivator and one of the best football coaches of all time. The Lombardi Trophy given to the Super Bowl champion was named in his honor. Lombardi sometimes challenged his players in pretty rough ways, but his biography (David Maraniss, When Pride Still Mattered) also tells of how he encouraged his players. Legendary Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant inspired a legacy of encouragement. Bryant said:
I’m just a plowhand from Arkansas, but I have learned how to hold a team together. How to lift some men up, how to calm others, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat together: a team. There are just three things I’d ever say: If anything goes bad, ‘I did it’. If anything goes semi-good, then ‘we did it’. If anything goes real good, then ‘you did it’. (Jim Grassi, Crunch Time in the Red Zone, p.131)
I can hear you from here – “ROLL TIDE”! I hope you are ready to coach up the people around you. See what is and what can be. Don’t just “tell is like it is”; tell it like it could be! Become an aspiration advancer!
