“Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Spring is such a great season! It may also be the most manly season of the year, too! Many of us come out of hibernation and begin to attend to our yards with great care, making sure weeds are pulled and the grass can be as green as possible.
Ballfields are beginning to fill up with kids learning a new sport or practicing and building on what they learned in previous years. This is a time where parents, grandparents, and mentors gather at the ballfields to coach, assist the coach, or sit in the stands and watch.
My youngest child started playing soccer for the first time this spring, and I chose to help out as an assistant coach. I have never officially played soccer, so I am grateful for the parent who jumped in and is leading the way as the head coach. But what I love about this age is that it is not just parents who come to the practices and games to cheer on their kids—it’s whole family units! So impressive!
Much more is happening between the lines than just learning the sport at these practices. It is a time when kids can hear encouraging words from their coaches, other kids’ parents, and their own family members.
This season can be filled with yard work and sports-watching. But I challenge you to think of it as a time for great encouragement for your own children and for other kids you see in your neighborhood, at the park, in after school activities, or at church gatherings. Kids have gone through a lot emotionally this past year with restricted social interactions and they need words of encouragement from all directions. Right now is the best time to be a positive influence on kids’ lives.
It is up to us to build one another up, to raise the next generation with words of encouragement, to be true Men in Action.
This spring, let us attend to the kids in our lives with more care and attention that we give our lawns. Be men who allow for our words to be lifting up the children and everyone around us.
Alex Hershey
Pastor, Branches Church
A Man IN Action
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