What's on Your Wall?

A friend of mine recently posted about how he created an affirmation wall for his wonderful daughter. On it, he stuck various encouraging phrases that she could read each day and that would encourage her to be her best. Obviously, followers began commenting on what a great idea this was. Upon reading the comments on his post, he then challenged those of us who liked the idea to do an affirmation wall for our own kids.

Hmmm...challenge accepted!

It took some time, but I finally completed a small affirmation wall (with room for additions) for my first born (I do plan on creating one for my second born, when he learns how to read :-) ).

Let me tell you, the response was amazing. First off, having something special made just for him was exciting enough. But then he started to read each one. The smile on his face was priceless. He turned to me and asked, "I'm talented?". I laughed gently and told him all the ways he was talented and he was like, "oh yeah!". Then he went through each one and applied it to some area of his life and it was magic. He even sings them to himself sometimes and has called it the "TTAC" Wall. :-)

Afterwards, I sent a pic to my friend who had given this challenge to thank him once again and to let him know I completed his challenge. He was encouraged by the report, but then he did something I did not expect. He challenged ME to make an affirmation wall for myself!

I was stopped in my tracks. I was speechless for a moment.

Wait, I have to say good stuff about me? Um.....

He had hit a nerve for sure. I finally answered with "that might be easier said than done, i'm not very good at saying good things about myself". Boom. There, it was. It's so much easier to encourage others, but what about ourselves? Boy, this was tough to swallow.

How many times do we say negative things about ourselves? How often do we tell ourselves something good? Do we remind ourselves who we are? What if we did that daily? Whoa.

I promised that I would do this. Would you consider doing one too?

Here's how I'm going to work on it:

1. I'm going to sit down in my quiet time and write down anything I'm good at.

2. I'm going to research the scriptures to see what God has said about me.

3. I'm going to pray and ask God to reveal anything I might have missed, either because I've believed a lie or I've just never seen it in me before.

This might take a while, lol. But i'm committed. I saw the joy in my son's face, and I want that too. I want that for others.

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up - 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (ESV)

Let's be encouraged!