A Short Devotion on Encouraging Others in Hardship for Your Next Meeting

📖 Romans 12:15

“Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”

💭 Reflection

This instruction requires actually paying attention to the people around you, enough to notice when someone's celebrating and when someone's struggling, and enough humility to genuinely enter both. A room full of people can be physically together and emotionally isolated if nobody's doing this. Both halves of the verse are equally demanding in their own way, rejoicing with someone else's success without envy, and weeping with someone else's grief without rushing to fix or minimize it.

✅ In Practice

Before moving into today's business, ask if anyone in the room is celebrating or struggling with something outside of work, and actually make room for the answer instead of rushing past it. This takes two minutes and changes the whole tone of what follows, often more than anything actually on the agenda that day.

🗣 Discuss

Is there someone here celebrating or struggling right now that the rest of us haven't fully acknowledged?

🙏 Pray

Lord, help us actually notice each other today, celebrating what deserves celebration and carrying what deserves to be carried together. Don't let us be physically present but emotionally distant from one another, disconnected in a room full of people. Amen.