Encouragement

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Have you ever enjoyed the movie ‘What a Wonderful Life’? Jimmy Stewart plays a warm-hearted, generous young man who changes a whole community for the better by his unselfish and generous acts. Through a serious of unfortunate events though, Stewart finds himself facing bankruptcy. Unable to provide for his own family, he determines to take his own life, wishing that he had never been born at all. Stewart’s guardian angel grants him this wish, revealing just what life would have been like for others if he had never been born at all.

Stewart, who believed his life was worth nothing and that he had never really done anything worthwhile at all, soon sees just how wrong he was. His one short life had changed the lives of so many others. He had added value over and over again to hundreds of people in his community.

I wonder what the story might look like if we could see a playback of our own lives to date. How often have we added value to others? Even unknowingly? Simple gestures of kindness are noticed and do leave an impression. They are never as insignificant as we might think. Even a smile can make an incredible difference. Each day in our words and deeds we shape and form others. We make people a little better or leave them a little worse. We affirm or deprive, enlarge or diminish the lives of others. Think on that. We have the privilege of adding value to others. Anywhere. Anytime.

In the closing moments of the movie, Stewart is welcomed back into his community by a sea of friendly faces thanking him for his contribution either great or small, for the difference he has made in their lives.

God invites us to build each other up (1 Thess. 5:11, Eph. 4:29). We are to become the people and do the things that add value to another. Together let’s take a step back today and look at our wonderful, God-given life. How are we following God’s calling to build up, encourage and ultimately add value to others?

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