Do you remember being pushed as a kid on a swing? Maybe your Mom or Dad, or a big brother or sister gave you a big push. And then another. And another. After a while, your legs started pumping on their own. 

Sitting on my mother’s lap, I heard the cadence of a favorite Robert Louis Stevenson poem about the pleasure of swinging, sailing “up in the air so blue.”

 

Back to the push. It helps so much to have someone behind you pushing, pushing, and pushing you for a short while. Soon your feet and legs catch the rhythm, and you are pumping up and down on your own.

In the New Testament, Barnabas, whose name means “Son of Encouragement,” did that for people in the early church. A motivator, he inspired action. See how his “push” caught fire in lines from Acts 11:23  The Message, paraphrases it this way:

22-24 When the church in Jerusalem got wind of this, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to check on things. As soon as he arrived, he saw that God was behind and in it all. He threw himself in with them, got behind them, urging them to stay with it the rest of their lives. He was a good man that way, enthusiastic and confident in the Holy Spirit’s ways. The community grew large and strong in the Master.

* * *

Here’s an opportunity for me to show gratitude to all who have given me a push: my family, my teachers, my pastors, my friends. And . . . You who have read and commented on my manuscripts, read my book, written a review—or connected with me here.

Thank you!

This week, in honor of the third anniversary of my first memoir’s launch, I’m offering Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl with special pricing

$4.99, Kindle e-book, in color       $11.99, paperback

 

 

Cover Reveal of Memoir 2 Next Week!


 

Who has given you a “push” that came just at the right time?

How has your encouragement pushed others in the right direction?