The gift inside of the brown and green box

Encouragement can present itself in so many different forms. About 8 years ago I read, "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman. It made a big impact on me. It showed me how I need to be careful not to transfer my preferences for how I am best encouraged onto other people. It challenged me to seek and discover what speaks to those in my life who I am trying to encourage in the best possible way for them to be uplifted.

Through my studying of this book I came to a concrete conclusion that my primary love language is words of affirmation.

Some people respond primarily to touch.

Others to gifts.

Still others are in their element when you are doing an act of service for them, such as making them a meal, doing their dishes, or taking care of their kids.

Quality time is a love language that many people I know crave. I would say this one is a close second for me. Spending time doing things together. Interacting. Just being.

But always, words stood out to me as being the primary catalyst of love relayed to me. I love words.

Dave knows that writing me a note before he leaves for work in the morning will often give me the encouragement needed for the potential struggles of the day that lies ahead.

I recently received a special gift that brought a unique joy to my heart. I feel pretty dorky admitting this, but it kind of made my month - maybe even year. (Shhh- don't tell any one) :)

The Mom2mom group that I am a part of at our church got together and decorated small boxes which were then used to collect little notes of encouragement for each of us. There are 15 of us. We each wrote a note for every one in the group.

When I brought my little brown and green box home, lifted the lid, and began exploring the contents (like an over caffienated child), what I felt was hard to describe. It wasn't just about reading nice things about myself (but really, who doesn't love that?). It was more than a sweet affirmation from ladies who have become very important in my life. It was as if God himself was quietly whispering in my ear, "I am still working to accomplish wonderful things in your life. Do you see it? This process of making you in my image is underway. Even when you don't feel it. "

I immediately began noticing some very similar character qualities being bestowed upon me in note after note. At first I wondered if I had the wrong box. Then I wondered if perhaps there had been a conspiracy to have every one write some qualities they thought were the opposite of what I actually posses. I smiled at that thought. Although it would be funny, I knew each one had written their notes at different times (A few of us around 10 pm Wednesday night to be prepared for a 9:15 am Mom's group Thursday morning). I knew that each note had been lovingly created individually.

So, I allowed the words of my friends to really sink in. This was truly how they saw me. I admire and respect these women, so to disregard their words to me would be unfair to them. I still struggle to see the correlation between myself and some of the desirable traits being assigned to me on the pages of those notes. Some were things I had been praying that God would develop in me. Some are areas I know he has been working on in me. Others were things I admired in other people, but wrote off as not attainable by me.

Things that not that long ago seemed very foreign in my life.

Have you ever thought about the impact you could have on the people around you? Have you considered that by learning what speaks love and encouragement into their life you could possibly turn it around? You could change some one's perspective and help point them to the one who is perfecting them.

It did for me.