MAN IN PIT
A man fell into a pit and could not get out.
A subjective person came along and said, “I feel for you down there.”
An objective person came along and said: “It's logical that someone would fall down there.” A Pharisee said, “Only bad people fall into a pit.”
A mathematician calculated how he fell into the pit.
A news reporter wanted the exclusive story of his experience in the pit.
An IRS agent asked if he was paying taxes on his pit.
A self-pitying person said, “You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen my pit.”
An optimist said, “Things could be worse.”
A pessimist said, “Things will get worse!”
JESUS, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit.

In this next series of Wednesday posts I am going to be talking about the Art of Encouragement. One of the main reasons why people leave our teams, organizations, and churches is because of poor personal relationships. I believe that committing ourselves to encouraging team members is the preventative antidote to relational conflicts.

When I lived in Thailand I had a little white Toyota truck. I didn’t notice the beautiful white paint job however; my eyes were always drawn to the darker scratches etched here and there across the body of the truck. Similarly, our default tendency is to see the one to five percent scratches in someone’s personality rather than focusing on his or her good qualities. We tend to see how far people need to go instead of how far they have already come.

Encouragement brings balance to the mix (for yes, people also need corrective input)—cheering people on based on how far they have come and empowering them with positive energy to keep growing and moving forward.

[In my next posts I’ll be looking at a person in the New Testament who was known as the “son of encouragement.” While most people know his new name, most do not remember his original one, although it’s listed in the text. Let me know if you find it before next week’s post!]