An Indiana school teacher suggested her students write notes of encouragement and inspiration for their peers in “random acts of kindness.” Days later, when a school tragedy occurred in a different part of the country, their plans took on even more meaning; their notes became a means of buoying the spirits of their fellow students as they dealt with the resulting fear and pain that something could happen to them too. Many of the 5,100 students so cherished the note that they’ve left it taped to their locker as a reminder of the kindness shown.

Encouragement and mutual concern were on Paul’s mind too when he wrote the people at Thessalonica. They had lost friends and Paul instructed them to hope in Jesus’s eventual return to bring their loved ones to life again (1 Thessalonians 4:14). While they didn’t know when that would occur, he reminded them that as believers they needn’t wait in fear of God’s judgment when He returned (5:9). Instead, he suggested they wait with confidence in their future life with Him. And in the meantime, they could “encourage one another and build each other up” (v. 11).

When we experience painful losses or senseless tragedies, it’s easy to be overcome with fear and sadness. Yet Paul’s words are helpful to us today, just as they were two thousand years ago. Let’s wait in hopeful expectation that Jesus will restore all things. And in the meantime, let’s encourage each other—with written notes, spoken words, acts of service, or a simple hug.

When Heather’s job took her to Tim’s house to deliver his take-out meal, he asked her to help him untie the knot in the food bag. Tim had suffered from a stroke a few years prior and no longer had the ability to untie the knot himself. Heather cheerfully obliged. Throughout the rest of her day, Heather’s thoughts returned to Tim frequently and she was inspired to assemble a care package for him. When Tim later found the hot cocoa and red blanket she’d left at his door with an encouraging note, he was moved to tears.

Heather’s delivery became much more significant than she originally anticipated. The same was true when Jesse sent his young son David to supply his brothers with food when the Israelites “drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines” (1 Samuel 17:2). When David arrived with the bread and cheese, he learned Goliath had been instilling fear in God’s people with his daily taunting (vv. 8-10, 16, 24). David was incensed by Goliath’s defiance “of the armies of the living God” (v. 26) and was moved to respond, saying to King Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him” (v. 32).

God sometimes uses the circumstances of our daily lives to put us in places where He wants to use us. Let’s keep our eyes (and hearts!) open to see where and how He might want to serve someone.

When Krystal first started work at a Virginia coffee shop, she served a customer named Ibby. Because Ibby is hearing impaired, he placed his order using a typed note on his phone. After Krystal learned Ibby was a regular customer, she determined to serve him better by learning enough American Sign Language so he could place his order without writing it down.

In a small way, Krystal showed Ibby the kind of love and service Peter encourages us all to offer one another. In his letter to believers in Jesus who’d been scattered and exiled, Peter indicates that they ought to “love each other deeply” and use their gifts “to serve others” (1 Peter 4:8, 10). Whatever skills and abilities He’s equipped us with are gifts we can use to benefit others. As we do, our words and actions can bring honor to God.  

Peter’s words were especially important to those he wrote to, for they were experiencing a season of pain and isolation. He encouraged them to serve one another during the time of distress to help them bear up under their trials. Though we may not know the specific pain another person experiences, God can help us to show empathy, and graciously and cheerfully serve one another with our words, resources, and abilities. May God help us serve others as a reflection of His love.

In his first home game after the death of his father, National Football League running back Aaron Jones wore something special: a football-shaped pendant necklace that contained some of his dad’s ashes. At some point during the game, the necklace fell off and was lost in the vastness of the turf. One of the team’s athletic trainers searched the field for hours—into the early morning—until he found Aaron’s treasured pendant.

The irreplaceable value of the pendant is what prompted the trainer to persist in the search on Aaron’s behalf. His persistence reminds us of the earnest care God shows for people who are “lost” to Him. Jesus describes God’s pursuit of His children through two parables: one about a lost sheep, another about a lost coin. In both stories, the person who has lost something of great worth to them will “go after the lost sheep until he finds it” or will “light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it” (Luke 15:4, 8).

We’ve each been that lost coin or sheep. God seeks us persistently, sometimes using a person as His agent. Though we’re one of many people, we’re irreplaceable in His eyes; He’s unwilling to abandon the search. When we’re willing to be found by Him and accept His gift of forgiveness from our sin, there’s great “rejoicing in heaven” (v. 7). On this Father’s Day, may we realize how important each of us is to our heavenly Father.

Sweetly fragrant cherry tree blossoms flood Japan with exquisite pale and vibrant pinks every spring, delighting the senses of residents and tourists alike. The short-lived nature of the blossoms cultivates a keen awareness in the Japanese to savor the beauty and scent while they linger: the very brevity of the experience heightens the poignancy of it. They call this deliberate enjoyment of something that will change quickly “mono-no-aware.”

As humans, it’s understandable that we’d want to seek and prolong feelings of joy. Yet the reality that life is riddled with hardship means we must cultivate the ability to view both pain and pleasure through a lens of faith in a loving God. We needn’t be overly pessimistic, nor should we fashion ourselves an unrealistically sunny outlook on life.

The book of Ecclesiastes offers a helpful model for us. Though this book is sometimes thought to be a catalog of negative statements, the same King Solomon who wrote that “everything is meaningless” (1:2) also encouraged his readers to find joy in the simple things in life saying, “There is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad” (8:15).

Joy comes when we ask God to help us “know wisdom” and learn to observe “all that [He] has done” (vv. 16–17) in both beautiful seasons and in difficult ones, knowing that neither is permanent on this side of heaven.

I’ve often affectionately joked with my mother-in-law about her ability to talk to her dogs. She responds to their barks with loving understanding. Perhaps now she and dog owners everywhere will also listen for their canine pals to laugh. Scientists have discovered that many animals, including dogs, cows, foxes, seals, and parakeets all have “vocal play signals”—otherwise known as laughter. Identifying these accompanying sounds helps distinguish an animal’s play behaviors from what might otherwise look like fighting to a human observer.

That animals express laughter and joy gives us a delightful glimmer of what it might look like for other parts of creation to praise God in their own way. As King David looked over his surroundings, it seemed to him “the hills [were] clothed with gladness” and the meadows and valleys were “[shouting] for joy” (Psalm 65:12-13). David recognized that God had cared for and enriched the land, providing both beauty and sustenance.

Even though our physical surroundings don’t “sing” in a literal way, they bear witness to God’s active work in His creation and, in turn, invite us to give praise to Him with our voices. May we—as part of the “whole earth”—be “filled with awe at [His] wonders” and respond to Him with “songs of joy” (v. 8). We can trust that He’ll hear and understand them.