The Art of Encouragement

A group of tourists visited a crocodile farm. The owner of the place launched a daring proposal: “To whoever dares to jump in, swim to shore and survive, I will give one million dollars.” But of course, staring at the crocodiles, nobody flinched. Then…suddenly…a man jumped into the water and desperately swam towards the shore chased by five crocodiles. He wildly flailed across the water and miraculously arrived, jumped out to the thundering admiration of everyone watching. “We have a brave winner,” the astonished owner announced.

After collecting their reward, the man and his wife returned to their hotel. The manager had heard the news. “You were very brave to jump,” he said. “I am so impressed.”

“I didn’t jump,” the man said. “Someone pushed me!”

And his wife stood behind him, smiling.

What can we learn from this obviously true story? “Behind every successful man, there is a woman who pushes him.”

Hey, I’m not for pushing your spouse at a crocodile farm, but most of us can think of someone who gave us that all important nudge, someone who encouraged us…and it was worth a million.

J.R.R. Tolkien laboured seventeen years writing Lord of the Rings, at the cost of “immense pains.” His friend C.S. Lewis read it and told him all the long years “are justified.” Tolkien used two words to describe Lewis: “Sheer encouragement.”

Jean Nidetch was a 214-pound homemaker desperate to lose weight. She went to the New York City Department of Health, where she was given a diet. Two months later, discouraged that she had 50 plus pounds to go, she invited six friends battling excess weight to her home to share the diet and talk about how to stay on it. Today, five million members attend 250,000 Weight Watchers meetings in 24 countries each week. And why was Nidetch willing and able to help others? When she was a teenager, she used to cross a park where she saw mothers gossiping while toddlers sat on swings, with no one to push them. “I’d give them a push,” remembers Nidetch. “And you know what happens when you push a kid on a swing? Pretty soon he’s pumping, doing it himself. That’s what my role in life is—I’m there to give others a push.”

An alcoholic friend of the author Philip Yancey once said: “When I’m late to church, people turn around and stare at me with frowns of disapproval. I get the clear message that I’m not as responsible as they are. But when I’m late to Alcoholics Anonymous, the meeting comes to a halt and everyone jumps up to hug and welcome me. They realize that my lateness may be a sign that I almost didn’t make it. When I show up, it proves that my desperate need for them won out over my desperate need for alcohol.

If AA can get this right, shouldn’t we followers of Jesus focus on and celebrate each other’s victories, rather than shaming and guilting each other for our failures?

Hebrews 10:24 (NLT) says,

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.”

Ephesians 4:29 says,

“Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”

Who can you encourage today? And who has encouraged you? Have you thanked them? I think I’m gonna thank my wife for pushing me at that crocodile farm. I know. I was surprised too! I’m just wondering how in the world we’ll spend that million dollars. Ha!