... Do We Say Enough Good?

I love this picture to the right. Running and cycling races have the most gracious fans. They stand out in all sorts of weather and encourage people they don't even know for a second here and a second there. It makes a difference. Just when you think about giving up someone yells, "It's not far now, keep it up, you can do it!" This message needs to be ringing from our homes, from our churches, "Keep going, don't quit, keep it up, not long now!" How much time do we spend praising, encouraging...

In his book, The One-Minute Manager, Kenneth Blanchard recommends developing the practice of "one-minute praising," where the manager (or parent, spouse, etc.) tries to "catch someone doing something right" and then spend a full sixty seconds praising that person for the good deed.

This is a lot more difficult than it appears. Where we might not find it difficult to criticize someone for even sixty minutes, many times we find it almost impossible to praise someone sincerely for a full minute. And this is true for the church as well. It seems that it can be hard for some people to praise God. Even in our prayer time, we can sure list off the prayer needs but I think we find it difficult to come up with praises. The more we praise God for everything that He has given to us the less we will criticize others. The more we praise Him in the church the more we will see His hand and Spirit moving through others.

The more we praise others, encourage others, the less likely they will quit or give up. "catch someone doing something right" today.