To Cheer and To Bless

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #9:

Vocabulary

The other day Scotty and I had to got to attend a leadership meeting for church. Scotty was actually speaking at the meeting, as was our friend and ward (congregation) member, Trixie.*

In Trixie’ talk, she quoted the second verse of the hymn “As Sisters in Zion.” 

I love that verse, and as Trixie was reciting it, I was saying it along in my head:

The errand of angels is given to women;

And this is a gift, that, as sisters, we claim:

To do whatsoever is gentle and human…

And this is where I got tripped up. In my mind’s recitation, I went to say “to serve and to bless in humanity’s name,” but Trixie stated “to cheer and to bless in humanity’s name.” 

It caught me off guard. The word was cheer? 

And then I envisioned the women in my ward “cheering” like a rowdy football crowd, and I thought, “That can’t be the word! That’s too unruly for the Sisters in Zion!” Not that we can’t hoot and holler with the best of ‘em, but that’s not what we sing about in our hymns!

Then it dawned on me… cheer… of course! Not jumping up and down and woooooo-ing… cheering up! Helping each other find comfort, joy, and support. This gave me a good laugh that my instinctual form of cheering is the louder variety, but then I realized, as Sisters in Zion, we need to do both! We need to cheer (give comfort and support) and we need to cheer (shout for joy in praise and encouragement). 

Lately, I haven’t been doing much of either. I’ve kind of retreated into myself and become uninvolved with the women in my circle. This was a good reminder of how much we need to “cheer” one another

The other day on social media, Brooke Romney posted this advice to teens, but I thought it was perfect for everyone:

“Find good friends who say GOOD things behind each other’s backs. Those are the kinds of people you want in your corner. And if you are the one who always has something unkind to say, change now. It’s never too late… become someone who builds others in both public and private.”

This is something I really want to be better at. I can be quite critical and judgmental, so I’m not always forthcoming with compliments and praise. Now that the word “cheer” has imbedded itself in my soul, I want to remember to make “cheering” a priority. 

To cheer and to bless… that’s a great pursuit! And something I would love to do more for the women around me.

*Trixie chose her own pseudonym for my blog, by the way. She told me if I ever needed to write about her, she wanted to go by Trixie. So just know… I’m willing to take suggestions. Haha!