For a while now I've been noticing how many little note cards I have that I haven’t used. I got a bunch to try and send as thank-you notes to everyone who gave us a meal or a baby gift when Emma was born, but that was such a weird time of adjustment that I only wrote and sent out a few! (I know, I'm the worst!!)
My new goal (can you have new year's resolutions in March? I didn't think so, which is why I'm calling this the vague and generic term of "my new goal") is to send AT LEAST 1-2 encouraging, handwritten notes per month to all sorts of people in my life. I know that seems like a low number (only 1 card per month?), but if I start slow, I think it'll be easier to increase it later if I'm reaching my goal!
So, what is this "encouragement project," as I'm calling it? It's me trying to encourage those around me. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians to "encourage one another and build each other up," and this seems like a really simple way to do that.
This is how I'm starting out:
1. I made a specific list of people around me that I'm thankful for, and here are the general categories, in case you wanted to start listing people you're thankful for:
- friends that live far away
- pastors
- extended family
- neighbors
2. There's nothing worse than starting to write a heartfelt card and realizing it's super awkward or you've run out of things to say. To avoid that (because, let's be honest, I'm prone to extreme awkwardness 😆), this is a simple structure to use for writing an encouraging note:
- Specific things I love and appreciate about the person
- Specific instances that remind me how thankful I am for them (things they've said to me, experiences we've shared, things I noticed they did that were helpful, etc.)
3. I'll be using up little notecards I've been hoarding (thank you, Target dollar section,) but these little cards
would be cute cards to get in the mail, too!
would be cute cards to get in the mail, too!
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