Hi everyone, I hope you are having a great week so far. It’s time again for “the encouragement project”- when I share ideas for you to encourage different people in your life.
So far, we have discussed ways to encourage our
~ Spouses
~ Adoptive/foster parents
~Your pastor
And before the series “officially” started,
~our children
~ single mamas
This week, let’s focus on an entirely different group of people- older people in our lives who have mentored us along the way. For some of you, it may be grandparents. Others, an older person at your church, or even a teacher.
I have had so many encouraging older people in my life that I am going to have to decide which one{s} to thank this week. My mom is SUCH a great example in this area. Besides her aging parents, she takes time often to visit with the elderly in their church. One of the sweet ladies, Ms. Dorothy, came to many of our family gatherings before she passed away.
I don’t know what it is that makes many of my generation uncomfortable with older folks. I know I have found myself uncomfortable while visiting with any elderly other than my grandparents. {My sweet cousin, Niki, on the other hand, is AMAZING with older people! I should have had her write this post!} If you are at a loss as to how to encourage someone a few generations above you, here are some ideas that you could do to encourage these dear souls:
1) Write a detailed letter explaining how they helped you. Saying “thanks for helping me” is nice of course, but if you give specific examples of what they have done to mentor you (even if it was an unofficial mentorship), it will mean so much more.
2) If you still live close to the person, give them a visit. There are SO many lonely senior citizens out there. When I taught a teenage girl’s Bible study, we visited a few older women and they were ecstatic to have visitors of a younger generation. The girls enjoyed it as well!
3) If you don’t live close to that person (or if he/she is passed away), find another older person where you live now to visit, love on, and help. {I am speaking to myself now, for sure!} The knowledge and wisdom you can gain from visiting with these precious people is invaluable. We moved away from my grandparents and our former church- where there were tons of sweet older people- a few years ago and most of the people in both our neighborhood and church are our age. I really want our children to be around older people, so my mission now is to find one!
About Kelli Hays
