(You) Encourage.

In third grade, my teacher explained that every phrase must have a subject and a verb to be a sentence. Dad ran. Chris ate. Mom said. I thought I broke her system when I found a sentence in one of my books that said "Do the dishes." It even had a period--no subject in sight. We eventually got to the Command Rule. I was intrigued by the invisible "You" that mysteriously sits on the front of every command.

In fifteenth grade, a friend expressed that he/she thought that work that I had done was worthwhile--even good. The modest compliment inspired me. This month (it is the first few hours of March now), I want those around me to feel more encouraged than if I weren't around them. If I were not a part of my friends' lives, would they be more encouraged and less the butt of jokes? In my absence, which way would that pendulum swing? How often do I settle for teasing over encouraging?

I'm still a little gunshy about inserting myself into books of the Bible that are actually letters written to other people. Regardless, I think I'll take Paul's exhortation to the Thessalonians as a personal extension of my third grade teacher's invisible "You."

He said "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up..."

"(You) Encourage one another."

How much better would our friends' lives be if we encouraged them?