And yet more...

Ed Cyzewski, as part of Bonnie's Faith jam on encouragement, suggests that encouragement has to be specific - and that we should encourage before being critical.  I had to be specific, so I had to say what a great idea that was!  However, when I started reading the post, my first thought was that even ‘blanket’ encouragement is DEFINITELY better than none at all. But Ed IS right: encouragement needs to be specific or it doesn’t mean anything.

I think building an atmosphere of encouragement has to be a priority, then varying our responses within that. Sometimes a general ‘thanks’ or even just an ‘I love you’ is enough; sometimes it must be for something particular. We humans just love variety!

Then – and only then – can we offer ‘critique’ or suggestions for perhaps doing things differently. Generally, my ‘better’ is the other ‘different’. I really, REALLY need to remember that.