Encouragement.  First step: Are you and your spouse good at encouraging each other?

  • you both do the normal stuff like say “please” and “thank you”
  • you both listen intently when your spouse speaks
  • you both offer hope when times are tough
  • you both support each other with your actions – helping & being that extra pair of hands
  • you both have servant hearts
  • you both pray for each other, taking everything to God
  • you both delve deeper into your walk with Christ and share with each other
  • you both exemplify the traits of love found in 1Corinthians 13

Well.  Maybe you’re not that perfect…  (all the time)

You are both working on encouraging each other…

It is fun to encourage your spouse, right?

Now what?

Pass a bit of encouragement along to others.

Encouragement. Date night to encourage others.

Encouragement – Pass it along!

Encourage others – together. Encouragement – pass it along.

Here are few date night ideas – ideas that you can execute together that’ll encourage others:

  • Go to a favorite bookstore, pick out a book that you both love as an inspirational tool and purchase it. Spend some time writing a note about why you both love the book, paste it into the front, and donate it to your local library.
  • Buy a dozen re-usable shopping bags, and in the parking lot outside your local grocery store, give them away to unsuspecting shoppers. (If you’re ‘crafty’ you could buy some canvas bags from a craft store, write an inspirational motto or scripture verse that you both feel would encourage someone.)
  • On a similar note:  Buy a dozen roses. Go to your church, or local YMCA, or even a shopping mall. Give a rose to each couple you see as a symbol of  how precious a married relationship can be. Or give a rose to a mom/dad with little kids – they can always use some validation! (Parenting is hard.)
  • Cook a special dinner together – then box it up and deliver it to another married couple who you know. Perhaps add a few questions/ideas on conversation starters.  (Not every couple knows how to start a great conversation!)
  • Buy some plant bulbs (daffodils, tulips, etc) and go visit a few houses in your neighborhood. Write a note introducing yourselves to package up with each bulb. Knock on a door, and meet someone new. Invite your neighbors to go with you door to door to meet (or re-meet) others, and have them add their note of introduction to each flower bulb.  It takes time for bulbs to grow – so do new friendships need time to grow.  But it’s always encouraging to see a friendly face.  You and your spouse can be those friendly faces.

“Talking isn’t doing.

It is a kind of good deed to say well;

and yet words are not deeds.”

~ William Shakespeare

Robert and I love to talk with each other. We could probably spend days just chatting. (Confession: OK. We do spend many hours of many days just talking to each other and not getting much done.)

But that talking only benefits us.

It doesn’t give our encouragement any “reach”…

Encouragement. Pass it along.

encouragement - pass it along - ideas for dates that'll encourage others

How do you reach out with your spouse, to encourage others?

Got any suggestions or ideas?

Please leave a comment and share – I’d love to gather more ideas about encouragement – pass it along!

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Womanhood with a Purpose

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