Encouragement Checkup, Part 3: Genuine

 

Hey, Cobblestone,

     First of all, a question: Did one of y’all put a fake daisy on my car?

     Coming out of a West Side establishment a couple months ago, I spotted a particle of brilliance in an otherwise dreary day – unrestrained yellow in a sea of grayness. A little closer, and I could see that it was on the windshield of my car. Closer still, and the brilliance took shape as a silk flower, a daisy. Reaching to pluck the token from under the wiper blade, I found a note attached: “Stop counting your problems and start counting your blessings.”

     Allow me to pause for a moment, and say, if anyone reading right now is the daisy-giver, please stop reading and contact me immediately. And don’t read the rest of this letter, ever. Deal? Otherwise, on the assumption that the giver is not among the readership, let’s proceed.

     I had an odd reaction to the note. It was written in what’s called the “implied you”: “Hey, you… stop (this). Hey, you… start (that).” Sounded like a command. Take out the trash. And be quick about it. I bristled.

     Is that an order?” I asked no one in particular. “What happens if I don’t, huh?” I took a quick look around to see if there had been a mass daisy-ing; maybe this gift was one of many. Didn’t look like it from where I stood. Drove around the parking lot to do a thorough search – nope. On my rounds, I couldn’t help but notice that the late-model Corvette didn’t have a daisy. Neither did the special edition BMW. Obviously, these car owners had no problems to stop counting.

     Be it thoroughly known that I’m ever so grateful for my car. It’s reliable, efficient, and fun to drive. I thank God for my car often. Be it also known that the best view of my car is from the inside, since the outside can’t be seen from in there. On a given day in a given parking lot, it’ll be one of the more forlorn four-wheelers around – plain silver, black steelie wheels, rusty rocker panels. I began to think I’d been targeted – if there’s only one daisy to give, it sure as heck needs to go on that car.

     On a fine Sunday morning last month, I was privileged to address the whole church on the topic of encouragement. By way of scriptural foundation, we had the following passage from Hebrews:

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:19-25).

     We chose to restate the biblical instructions in the simplest of terms:

1.      Draw near.

2.      Hold fast.

3.      Encourage one another.

    In the first two installments of this three-part “Encouragement Checkup” series, I stressed how success with #1 and #2 would put #3 on a good trajectory, with one more qualifying condition: encouragement has to be authentic.

     With the fake daisy and its note, I couldn’t find any basis for authenticity. Maybe there was plenty, but the token was disconnected from the intent. The missing piece was the person. I’d be happy to find out that the daisy-giver is someone who has a general idea, at least, of how many problems I have to stop counting and how many blessings to start. Someone who knows the story.

     Romans 12:9 says, “Let love be genuine.” Almost gives you the idea, doesn’t it, that love can be kept from being genuine – that love will, on its own, be genuine unless acted upon by an external force? The external force, we could reasonably say, is the lack of connection, the disembodiment of the encouragement. That’s why Hebrews 10:25 makes gathering together an integral part of encouraging one another. A meeting of the eyes. A word aptly spoken into a human ear. To encourage you well, and with authenticity, I’ll need to know your story. Mass encouragement is… well, not. Relax – the Father doesn’t call us to encourage the masses; he calls us to encourage one another.

     Draw near. Hold fast. Encourage one another. He who promised is faithful – Jesus made a way.  

     I have, in stock, some parts to freshen up my car – going to give it a facelift if I ever get time – swap out the bleary-eyed headlight housings, spray some truck-bed liner on the rusty rocker panels, maybe put bullet hole decals over the smaller dents. I’m hoping to make it less predictable. If the decals are convincing enough, maybe somebody will ask to hear the story.

 

Grace and Peace (from the Author of authenticity),

 

John