One of the best gifts I’ve found I can give other people, and they probably won’t thank me initially, is the permission to not be perfect. That’s right. Hey, we’re human. And don’t you enjoy it when you’re around people that don’t pressure you to be perfect? Everything socially just works better when you know you don’t have to attain some awkward, ethereal standard.

God loves me unconditionally (and He loves you that way, too), and it means He accepts me the way I am and actually helps me be all I can be (remember the old Army advertisement?).

Stress comes as my sphere of influence pressures me to perform and excel, but when I fall short, well…we can all use a word of encouragement that lets us know we are still accepted and valuable.

If you find yourself around someone who has made a mistake the best thing you can do is to remind them of their strengths; something you know they have done that was really amazing. And really, we shouldn’t take things that people do well for granted. For example, I know my wife is probably the best people person on the planet. And I remind her of it all the time. She smiles and it encourages her.

The devil works overtime to make me feel like a failure. I know he does this to others as well. So it makes sense that we should counter working overtime to make people feel like a success!

Encourage one another, Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:11. Being there for someone with their weakness is just one simple way of showing love. Paul not only taught this, he kept reminding people of it all the time, so it IS an important issue.

The Holy Spirit lives within us and walks right along side us. And He wants us to become all we can be. When we make mistakes, He doesn’t condemn us – guess what? He encourages us to be better.

When you shut off encouragement people fall into depression, despair…keeps people from reaching their potential in life. All of us need to be encouraged. And this is one of the primary ways we can spread love to everyone in our path.

Make a deliberate choice to be kind and encouraging when people goof up.

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