How refreshing it is to stand in a stream and hear its bubbling song.  There is just something about flowing, moving water that invigorates!  It refreshes! If you’ve ever stood at a stream’s edge in the countryside you know what I mean.  

Some time ago, I was given a handout entitled, “Twenty Ways to Refresh.”  Due to the nature of my blog and my desire to refresh others in their heart, home and life, I gravitate to the word, “Refresh.”  Harold Vaughan, the founder of Christ Life Ministries, is the epitome of Encouragement and he is the author of this list I was given.  When we refresh others, we are pouring life into them, like that flowing stream does for us!  If you’re like me and you have difficulty thinking of ways to encourage others, this list will help you.

Here are the first ten:

1. Greet people on Sunday mornings (at church) with a smile.  It is okay to let your face say that you are happy to be at church.  Go out of your way to say, “Hi.” Ask questions about the lives of others, and listen attentively.
2. Visit the widows and shut-ins of your church.  Take an afternoon and visit three or four.  Sit, talk, listen and be willing to look at their photo albums – all of them.
3. Have a mouth that is overflowing with grace and is slow to wander down any other road.
4. Show up each Sunday morning with a mental list of three or four people that you are going to find and minister to.  Many of us walk into church with an attitude of, “I wonder who will minister to me today.”  Nothing can be as drastically encouraging to a local church’s membership than a people united in the understanding that they are there to serve and love one another.
5. Be a Monday morning encourager instead of a Monday morning critic by sending your pastor an email detailing what you appreciated about his Sunday sermon.
6. Don’t rush out of church on Sunday mornings.  Be one of the last to leave because you are taking the time to talk with everyone you can.
7. Often remind others of the benefits of salvation and the graces that flow from union with Christ.  Let it season your conversations.
8. Routinely have a crock-pot meal or roast cooking on Sundays and spontaneously invite a visiting family or family in need for supper following the service.  (See my Successful Sunday Dinner series!)
9. Seek out those visiting the church, get to know them, and introduce them to others.  Find connections, and be a networker to the glory of God.
10. Aim to remember people’s names and greet them by name each Sunday.  This takes work, but it can happen.  (I go to my seat and write their names in my journal, with a brief description of the person!)

This really inspired and refreshed me!  Which one of these points speaks most to you?

Lovingly,