Schedule & Practice

Ps.142:5&7 Then I pray to you, O Lord. I say, “You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life. Bring me out of prison so I can thank you. The godly will crowd around me, for you are good to me.”

I used to be a workaholic. But now, I am a recovered workaholic. I know some people still believe that I am a workaholic. My colleagues probably still think I am a workaholic, but I am not. I used to be a work junkie,so bad that the only way people could get my attention was to send me instant messages. Sometimes even though I am in the same building, or sitting in the same room with the person. But my face is buried in my computer and I am working. In those days it was the yahoo messenger everyone was using for instant messaging. The message pops up on my screen, I reply and continue working. Something else comes up and I get another instant message and I respond.

So, we were in the same building, an sometimes less than five meters away, but we were communicating with instant messenger. But then it dawned on me that there was something wrong with the equation. So, I chose to close my laptop and walk up to the person, look into their eyes and say, ‘talk to me’. That was my first step to recovery. You have to be brutal, if you are not brutal you would not achieve many things. And by being brutal I mean being brutal because you do not want to be rested. I pray that God will help you in Jesus Name.

To limit discouragement, I must schedule leisure deliberately and I must practice encouragement. There is something unique about the person who is an encourager. Think about your unit, your department, your office, and your circle of friends. Naturally, every group has an encourager, that is how God set it up.  In fact, God wants everybody to be encouragers. But there is usually somebody in each group that goes around encouraging people. You will notice that everybody wants to be around that person. Nobody wants to be around people that are not encouragers, have you noticed? Beginning from today, you will be an encourager (say Amen).

Prov.11:²⁵ “…those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” People that are encouragers never lack encouragement. We all can do with some encouragement. Everybody needs some encouragement, everybody. Eph.4:²⁹ “…Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” The Bible did not say, let some things you say be, or a lot of the things you say. The Bible says let everything you say be good and helpful.

Prayer: Father, beyond encouraging myself in the Lord and in the place of rest, help me also build up those around me with encouraging words, in Jesus Name. Amen!