“Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
One fall, some moms in my community encouraged residents to #chalkthewalk. Residents were invited to write words of encouragement on the sidewalks that children would be walking for the first day of school.
The night before the first day of school, I drew on four sidewalk squares in front of our house. I drew a smiley face on one square and on another a reminder to “help all.” On another square I wrote “be kind; the final square exclaimed, “spread joy!” That morning I stood by an open window, watching the kids walk to school. What fun it was to hear the kids and their parents react to my chalk drawings.
What kind of encouragement can we offer one another? What kind of encouragement can we give ourselves? You’ve probably seen page-a-day calendars that offer a daily dose of encouragement. That’s one way. I know a friend who writes encouraging words in a journal that she regularly returns to. Sending words of encouragement is a sure sign of caring. Holding one another in prayer is another form of encouragement.
This message is excerpted from “Encouraging one another with chalk” by Linda Post Bushkofsky from the August 22, 2022, blog of the Women of the ELCA. Today we commemorate Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, 1153.
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