Vickie,

             You have encouraged me so greatly!!!

I desire to, but often do not manage to, encourage others.

I guess it might be more “fun” to argue/debate with someone, but fruitless, compared to encouraging them.

Clearly, if someone is really wrong about a critical thing, we need to help them.

However, most of the time, it may be more profitable to edify.

No doubt every one of us could find something, in every letter, here, that we could take issue with.

So what? Big deal.

However, it has been my typical knee-jerk reaction when reading the letters.

Yet, that may sometimes be the work of my flesh, rather than the moving of the Holy Ghost.

If it is not outright, rank heresy, then why can I not look for something that I could encourage about, or at least not say anything.

Sometimes it’s like when I need to attend a wake, why do I always think that I must say something, and to quote them some scripture?

Wouldn’t it be better sometimes, for me to simply sit there with them, quietly?

Thank you for showing me how I could be doing it.

                          Gino