Laying your life down in tender surrender before the Lord will bring life, prosperity, and honor as your reward. Proverbs 4:22 The Passion Translation
This blog is part of the Five Minute Friday community and part of the writing challenge on showing love and honor. These two combined nicely. (Love when that happens) Please join us as we write for 5 minutes on a word provided. Don’t overthink it. Simply take it and run.
GO
How can you reward with honor?
A few years before my first husband (Bill) moved to Heaven, we decided to honor him. We had decided to establish a culture of honor in our family by giving the gift of honor on birthdays. We would express verbally or write down the qualities we most admired about the one we were celebrating. In the beginning, the kids honored what others did for them (i.e. you pick me up from school, you bake yummy desserts, you tell me you love me, etc.)
As Bill’s adult-set form of muscular dystrophy progressed, he did less and less. This challenged us as we honored him and taught us all the look deeper into the motivation that resulted in actions. The result was a compilation of character qualities with verses that helped us to formulate a true honoring statement. You can download it from the link below:
What motivates the one you seek to honor?
This type of honor becomes a unique reward for the person receiving it. They feel
validated and affirmed.
We asked friends and family to send us an email with details of how Bill had impacted their life. We put it all together in a scrapbook and gave it to him.
A few weeks after the family gathering, I heard Bill yell loudly. I went running to the office and asked what was wrong. “This is just too much!” he exclaimed.
This true honor for who a person ‘is’ has become so rare that it can feel strange when you receive it, yet as a family we are grateful we took the time and made the effort to honor
Bill Sebastian – a great man and servant of the Lord. When he moved to his Heavenly reward, we were grateful that we had not withheld the honoring words and saved them for his eulogy.
Active Expressions of Love and Honor
- Make room in your schedule to honor someone every day/week/month/year. You decide the schedule and stick to it.
- Incorporate honor into your expressions of gratitude.
- Visit this blog series for inspiration on wording for each quality strength – 31 Ways to Honor Your Loved Ones.
- Carry gasoline to pour on honor and water to extinguish the flames of self-doubt.
- Create a culture of honor where differences are celebrated and applauded for the balance they bring.
Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for the gifts hidden inside those you have placed in my circle of influence. I ask for courage and insight to honor the strengths that challenge my areas of weakness. I lift my eyes from my own situation to see those who are fighting the hard battles today. May I provide hope and encouragement to all I meet today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
STOP
Please join a vibrant community who blogs for five minutes on one word every Friday by clicking here.
This blog is also part of the #write28days challenge that is being completed slowly in March because life happened. I love that this post is about the reward of a life that is lived for others and will write soon about what happened to slow down my challenge. Rejoicing in the faithfulness of the Lord in it all. Please share any times that you have felt overwhelmed by honor from others or ways you have shown honor.
Click
here to read the rest of the #Write28Days series.
Author, speaker, corporate trainer, ordained minister and Hope Catalyst, Karen Sebastian enjoys sharing her rich life experiences with others – engaging them in adventurous discoveries of the beauty of hope in a dark, cloudy world. Her books will inspire you to embrace hope no matter what you are going through. As a caregiver and widow she took brave steps forward to fulfill God’s calling on her life. She has now remarried and enjoys her new hubby and spending time with their children and grandchildren. To increase hope and improve relationships with yourself and those that you love, check out her Facebook page –
The Power of Hope.
So beautiful and such a caring way to honor a soul.
Sabrina,
I am so excited to get to go read your post. Thanks so much for stopping by.
It means so much that you took the time to leave a comment on my post today. Blessings.
Karen
What a wonderful idea and beautiful way to honor people!
Thanks for stopping by, Anita. As you can see, I am gradually filling in my #write28days with #FiveMinuteFriday posts. My precious Dad is still with and we get the opportunity to honor him. What a privilege and honor!
I so appreciate you!!!!
Karen
I love this idea.
Tara,
Thanks so much for this comment. I loved your post today. Truly the reward will be to hear our Lord say enter good and faithful, servant. You are that in so many ways. I honor your ability to put into words your grief journey. I know that you are helping many in the process.
Blessings and thanks again for stopping by. It means the world to me.
Love,
Karen
Thanks for this reminder for me to go read all your posts from the 28-day challenge. I missed several I am sure.
Mandy,
You are such a dear. I still have not finished. So far, I may just bring in the Five Minute Friday posts and will be done by the end of March LOL!
I love your posts and so appreciate your support.
Love,
Karen