To Empower

(Leon Kossoff's painting - from http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/)

Empowering is the process of helping another person recognize strengths and potentials within, as well as encouraging and guiding the development of these qualities. It is the affirmation of another's ability to learn and grow and become all that s/he can be. Sometimes the empowerer may need to step back, as s/he must respect the uniqueness of those being empowered and see strength in their individual ways to be competent.

To be continued...

Balswick & Balswick, The Family: A Christian Perspective on the Contemporary Home (Grand Rapids: Baker Book, 1991), 28.