Words of Wisdom from Dove?

Ok, so I bought this bag of little Dove bite sized chocolate squares. You know ... the ones that are like fortune cookies ... you unwrap it, pop it in your mouth and read the words of wisdom on the wrapper. So, I was handing them out for fun, and ate the last two. Here were the words of wisdom that I think are so applicable to student minstry it is not even funny.

1. Celebrate family and friends. It reminded me of the importance of being authentic cheerleaders in the lives of the people, especially your leaders, around you. I will always remember Mark saying, "a smattering applause is a stench in the nostrils of God." I don't want to be the obnoxious one who has to get the last clap in, but I secretly desire to always be one of the loudest and longest clappers when someone is being celebrated.

2. A gentle touch speaks volumes. I love it. I'm not much of a touchy, feely, emotional kind of person. While I much better in this department than say a decade a go, you wouldn't rank me high in this category ... maybe a 6 out of 10 on comfort level. However, the thing that speaks volumes in my life, way more than a hug, is a gentle hand on my back at the appropriate time. The hand that says I believe in you, I see what you did, you matter to me, I'm so proud of you, you're more than employee/volunteer...you're a friend, etc.

Small Group Activity. A rabbit trail ... as I write this, I think of all the times I struggled for opening activities to small group discussions during our annual love/dating series we had in February. This activity, at least in my mind, is a great one to get people talking ... buy a bag of the Dove candies for each small group, have them each open one or two, read their wrappers out loud, then talk about the truth, if any, that can be found in the quotes (kind of like I did above). I always wanted to do activities with those coversational boxes of hearts, but couldn't because often times the words were a little on the raunchy side. I think Dove keeps it clean.