A PIECE OF MY HEART...all in the family

1 CHRONICLES 22:19 "Now determine in your mind and HEART to seek the Lord your God" Thank You For Joining Me Today As I Share From My Heart. It Is My Prayer That Your Heart Will Be Strengthened Today! FROM MY HEART TO YOURS: Growing up, I remember watching the TV hit “All in the Family”. (Archie, Edith, Gloria and Meathead) Each character on the show had a unique personality. Today I wanted to share something in particular about two of the characters…Edith and Archie. One thing Archie was known for was NOT being an encourager. Archie was not the best example of what a husband should be. I remember two comments he would often generate towards his wife Edith ... “DINGBAT” and “STIFLE”. Archie would tell Edith to “Stifle” when he wanted her to be quiet. Have you ever had someone speak discouragement to you? Did the discouragement “stifle” your spirit? I recently had someone speak words that discouraged me, the tone they used also caused my spirit to “stifle” or in other words, I felt shut down spiritually. Whenever I watched this sitcom show, Edith was portrayed as always having a sweet spirit. No matter how much Archie put her down, she had good things to say and had an encouraging spirit. She was always putting others before herself. This past week, I observed an “Edith” in action. I attending our state youth talent competition (Fine Arts) where several of our youth from our church competed. (WOW! What talent our young folks have!!) Over 30 students from our youth group competed, the 60+ from our church that attended amazed me with their attitude of support for one another. One of our students, whom I have known for several years, displayed the sweet and encouraging spirit that I say Edith Bunker had. I observed Sam more than one time encourage the other competitors in this competition. Sam is a very talented and gifted musician. I love to see her sing, it is more than just having a good singing voice, she has the charisma and the aura of Gods spirit in her when she sings. I watched her as she sat down after presenting her song in the competition. She did not sit down with an attitude of “I nailed it”, or “Look how good I can sing”, instead she sat down in the front row and encouraged the next contestant. Following Sam’s presentation was another student from our church, to my knowledge this was the first time for this student to perform and sing. What I observed is Sam smiling and urging this other girl on with an encouraging look and gesture of "you can do it"! Sam is a modern day “Edith”, she is an encourager. I pray that today I can encourage someone and not stifle them. How about you? My prayer: Dear Lord, help me Lord in the words I speak and the tone I use. Lord, help me to not stifle someone’s spirit, or their dreams or their attitude. Lord I pray that I will strive to be an encourager to all those that I meet. Lord, that those around me will not only hear me speak encouragement, but that they will see a heavenly aura thru me. AMEN That is a piece of my heart today! Laurie