Encourage One Another Daily

   I get a message from my friend Denise almost every day on my Fitbit saying something like,"What are you doing today to reach your goals?"  Many times I am sitting in my overstuffed chair doing NOTHING until I read that message. She reminds me that I do have goals, and her reminder is an encouragement to get up and get started.
   My scripture reading today was from Hebrews 3. "Encourage one another daily so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness."  I was thinking about how important church is to my state of mind. After another few days of Facebook posts and news reports of violence, racism, demonstrations, ranting and raving about political leaders -- I NEEDED to go to church and see smiling faces, get hugs and handshakes, sing songs of praise, and hear prayers and a message about love. I can't make it a whole week -- I need the midweek gathering too. So when I read in my Bible that Paul said "Encourage one another DAILY" -- I knew why he thought that was important.
   It doesn't take a lot to encourage someone -- even a "like" on Facebook or a short message on my Fitbit makes me feel better about things.  I actually wrote a note to an old friend, put a stamp on it and mailed it this week -- my friend doesn't do Facebook -- because I was thinking of her. I don't do that often enough. It is easy to start feeling isolated when you don't have a job that requires you to leave your house, and my church friends and Chorus friends have become even more important than before.  I was grateful for the opportunity to share my story with the younger ladies Encouragehers Sunday School class last week -- and I hope my experiences were an encouragement to some of them.
    This Saturday our church Family Life Center will be full as we invite the community to come to Soles of Hope -- we will give new shoes to all the children, breakfast and a big box of groceries to each family. Life is hard sometimes, and we find joy in being able to give to others. The big smiles that come with the new shoes give us all a lift. It is such a blessing to see so many from church here to serve and help children find new shoes.
     So encouragement works both ways -- whether giving or receiving -- all are blessed.