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"The Gift of Encouragement"The parents of an unruly 6th grader received a call to meet with his teacher. They knew what was coming—“been down that road before”--and so the mother refused to go. She sent dad to catch the flak. Said it was his turn, for once. The teacher sat down with the dad and said, "Thank you for coming. I wanted you to hear what I have to say." He crossed his arms and began mentally sorting through excuses as the teacher proceeded to list some fairly positive things. When she finished, the father said, "Okay, what else.""That's all I wanted to say," she said.That night when the father got home, he repeated the conversation to his son. And not surprisingly, the troublemaker's attitude changed dramatically. Pretty much over night. All because a teacher looked past the negatives and emphasized the positives.We might say that teacher possessed “the gift of encouragement.” I would dare say we all need to cultivate that gift. Most of us get loaded down with complaints and criticisms. The news media bombard us with bad news. No one ever gossips to us about righteousness and virtue--it’s a steady litany of depressing stuff.So imagine the lift to one’s spirits when they come in contact with a word of encouragement. Do you encourage people? When you’ve been with someone, do they feel uplifted? Do you brighten people’s day?I think Jesus did—except for the Pharisees, of course. And Barnabas must have been, too. His name means “son of encouragement.”By God’s grace, maybe you can do a better job at being a “Barnabas” in your sphere of influence. Lord knows we need that far more than “helpful criticism.”