This month, a focus has been on encouraging through three ways: praying for a caregiver you know, writing a note or card to someone, and through complementing. While looking for Bible verses to share on Facebook on the topic of encouragement, I found this:

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”

Ephesians 4:29

I began to think of being an encouragement in a different way than I had been writing about. More than praying, more than writing a note, and more than complementing someone, encouraging others can be done simply through our behavior – how we speak in our every day lives. Based on how I communicate, am I an encouragement to others who might be around listening? Do I complain often? Do I speak well of others? Are my words useful? Does my behavior help improve others or impair? Ouch. The answers to those questions sting a bit. My words are not always useful for good nor do they at all times minister grace, to be honest. Looks like I have some work to do.

In the meantime, I will keep counting the stray gifts, keep looking for the good and pray that in some way, sharing them uplifts and inspires others to look for the gifts in their lives as well. Here are this week’s stray gifts photos: (January’s theme: inspirational, white, heartfelt, new growth)

Top Left: A little bit of color is left on the rose bush from last year. The rose was ready to bloom but had frozen overnight. Soon it will be time to prune the rose bushes to make way for another year of new growth.

Top Middle: The book, “Patches of Godlight” by Jan Karon. It is full of inspirational quotes, poems, and Bible verses. I have shared many parts of this book on social media. It is well-loved and used often.

Top Right: This is a daylily I had just about given up for dead. I bought it for $3.00 last year on clearance. Looks like it might be ok.

Bottom Left: This pink oleander plant was transplanted from the front yard to the back when we first moved in. Over the last 5 years, it showed a little life after the transplant, so we kept cutting the dead branches down to make way for the new. Last year, this bush exploded in height and in blooms. It seems it might make it another year. Healthy looking growth reaching for the sun.

Bottom Right: Stray gifts “white” -the top of our dog’s head when she nuzzles in for some love. We adopted her a few years ago and she is an entertaining playmate, a fun walking companion, a good listener, and an excellent encourager.

Not pictured: Heartfelt hope in x-ray results for my husband who has been struggling with pain in his hips and legs for a long time. The VA has not wanted to do much with this issue because he was told he was ‘too young’ to have a hip replacement when they first detected a problem. Now both his hips are bad and are basically bone on bone. “Severe degenerative change” is how the findings were written. Good news: He doesn’t have an auto immune disease as we originally thought. This issue is fixable and he is hopeful for a better quality of life in the future.