SOAP: Refresh and be refreshed

Scripture:

A generous person will prospers;

whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”

–Proverbs 11:25

Observation:

Encourage and help others and you will benefit, too.

Application:

Sometimes, when I pay someone a compliment, I don’t know who feels better about it.

That’ not why I do it, but I love watching them shine from the inside out. It makes me feel great.

That’s never the motivation on my side, but it sure works every. single. time.

I’ve already talked about The Birthday Project here a few times, but it’s worth doing it again.

The Birthday Project is changing the way people celebrate birthdays by encouraging us to celebrate our birthdays by doing nice things for us. It encourages people to refresh others. And guess who gets refreshed? EVERYONE involved!! One woman who was intrigued by the Birthday Project decided to celebrate her birthday giving with the intent of committing suicide at the end of the day. What do you think happened?

After spending the day bringing joy to other people all day she changed her mind.

Can you even imagine how many lives that one person saved in addition to her own?

There is already enough negativity and complaining and insulting that happens in the world. And what good does it do? 

What if each of us makes a conscious decision to be a refresher for today… or maybe the rest of the week. What do you think might happen?

I bet we’ll ALL feel better!

I challenge you to give it a try. Right now– pop over ot your social media channel of choice and post something nice. Leave a nice comment on someone’s post. Compliment some one you see today, whether you know them or not— there is always SOMETHING nice you can say. Then see what happens.

Prayer:

Lord, please let all who read this be refreshers to those around them. Help each of us to find joy and spread joy. Help us to reach deep in us, even when we aren’t feeling joy, and find a glimmer to share. Help each of us to live out this Proverb: a generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes other will be refreshed. I know I can always use a bit of refreshment… and it is so simple to refresh others. Help me to be intentional. Help me to refresh others. Thanks for creating us this way.