When doubts filled my mind,
your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.
-Psalm 94:19

I return to this over and over — We need each other. Life is better when we share it with people. We learn how to love, how to forgive, how to walk through the expected and unexpected… as we open up, speak our stories, and listen to the stories around us.

My small group met the other night for the last time. We take the summers off. We’ve been reading Ann Voskamp’s 1000 Gifts Devotional. Every time we gathered we shared some of the gifts from our lists — small things, big things, simple items, and experiences to remember. We were teaching our hearts to be thankful, even if or when the circumstances of our everydays have yet to change. A deeper perspective emerges as we put words to the things we might normally pass over in a day. These things we named were gifts. They are gifts. And this past week we realized — the gifts that seemed the grandest involved people. The gifts were shared with the people we love.

Maybe the biggest gift is simply seeing the person in front of you as the gift for that day.

Hard seasons happen.

Sad news comes.

Questions linger.

Expectations go unmet.

The future stays unknown.

But hopefully we still have someone who will walk through these seasons with us. On the days and weeks I need reminders, I see how much God uses people to point me back to the gift of His Presence…

Encouraging words.

Moments captured in a photo.

Walks outside.

Real snail mail.

I could name plenty of things. Behind each of those gifts is a person. The simplest, smallest gifts can remind others to hold onto hope and cheer for another day.

You probably already have an idea in your head. Go reach out to that friend and watch as you both are blessed in a deeper way than you first thought. It just might be the boost of joy and love you both need.

How can you reach out to a friend today?

This post was inspired by the Five Minute Friday word: CHEER.

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