The Power of Applause

2 Timothy 4:2b
…correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction.

An amazing thing happened this morning on our way to a normal day. Applause. You read that right. Spontaneous, wild clapping. I watched the power of applause change something and it was amazing. Let me fill you in.

I’ve written before about our typical morning routine with our son, Will. I think it’s safe to say that he’s not a morning person. Most mornings one of us will stop by his room about every 2-3 minutes to make sure he’s making the bed and getting dressed, and most mornings we’ll find him almost asleep again in whatever current state he’s in. Pants could be half on, but he’s probably laying on the bed trying to catch a few more Zzzs. It can be, to say the least, frustrating.

This morning, for no other reason than it just seemed like a change of pace from the whole "Hurry up, Will! You’ll be late for school!" scenario, I took Sydney in the room and we sat on Parker’s bed and watched as Will laid in his bed when he should have been making it. I told him to go ahead and start pulling the sheets up, and when he did, I clapped. He kind of looked at me all weird, and then he pulled the comforter up and grabbed his pillows. I clapped again, followed by a golf announcer type play by play for Sydney. "Oh, did you see the way he grabbed those pillows and put them perfectly in place? Amazing!" We both clapped.

It was contagious, and before I knew it, Sydney was joining in. Will had picked up 2 stuffed animals at once, thrown one up in the air and had caught it before it hit the ground. Sydney looked up at me and said, "Did you see the way he threw an animal and caught it? Amazing!" We both clapped wildly. Things were really getting fun when Will moved on to the dressing part of the routine. I commented on his amazing determination when he looked all the way to the bottom of the shirt pile to find the one he wanted. We whooped and hollered when he put his pants on in what seemed like one smooth motion. It was fun, and he was done in a matter of minutes. The smile that had peeled out here and there during the clapping was now fully in place on Will’s face, and I couldn’t believe how much more fun this morning had been than most.

Correct, rebuke and encourage. If we’re honest, it’s the last one that gets left out of the mix, and without it, we miss out on the greatest power of all.

The power of applause.

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