More about encouragement
Our new house is finally getting closer to being ready. My husband has been building it nearly all by himself, and it's not a small house,either. The hardest part of the whole housebuilding is the laying of the bricks. It took him about 10 months. (He has a very busy full time job as well). He's very fussy about the quality of brick laying, and he just can't trust anyone else. It's a very time consuming job, especially when you want it to be perfect.
Now I see encouragement is like the mortar in brick laying. Sometimes in parenting or discipling, all we're focusing on is the result, the achievement, we're hurrying to lay all the pieces of bricks in, and we just tend to forget about the mortar part, which is encouragement, that holds all the achievements together, to keep whatever's finished firm and strong. Without encouragement, we might have put a lot of knowledge or progress in our children, but these achievement are just like a brick wall without any mortar, shaky and unstable. If we are diligent in giving our children encouragement while putting knowledge and ability into them, they'll grow up strong, healthy and established, and they'll be able to handle all the challenges that their lives might encounter.
It's a constant requirement. Every brick needs to be surrounded by mortar. For our children, every effort and progress needs to be recognised and encouraged properly. Encouragement plays a vital part in their character beings.
Thursday, April 01, 2004
