Have you ever been around one of those people who raise the level of the people around them?  You feel better just being around them.  When you come into their presence you are encouraged, you feel good about yourself, your circumstances, and you actually become a better person!  There is an old saying:  People can light up a room:  Some when they enter, some when they exit.".  I want to be the person that lights, lifts, and loves when I enter the room.  Here are some simple tips on how to be the iron that sharpens others!
 
1.  Be Positive.  (A bright optimistic outlook will go a long ways!  Try to look on the bright side of things.)
 
2. Be Encouraging.  (Use phrases like, good job, you can do it, I believe in you. I stand with you.)

3.  Be Sincere.  (Nobody likes being patronized or being talked down to. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.)

4.  Be Attentive.  (Listen, ask questions, gain understanding.  Don't be so quick to solve their problems just listen.  Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. That's good advice from the Word.)

5.  Be Accountable.  (When your life is an open book people can trust you better.  When your life can be described as: "what you see is what you get" breeds confidence and dependabilty in you that others will come to rely upon.)
 
6.  Be Compassionate.  (Love others unselfishly.  Put yourselves in their situation if you can and do your best to empathize with them.  Perfect loves casts out all fear.  People again will gain trust in you if they know you love them.)

7.  Be Challenging.  (Raise the bar for people.  Call them to a higher level of life.  People are creatures of habit and comfort.  Challenge people to reach stretch and give their best.  Knowing that there is someone watching and cheering them on will be a great motivation for them.) 

8.  Be Hopeful.  (Don't be the dream stealer or the nay sayer.  With God all things are possible and we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us.  If God is for someone who can be against them?  Believe they can and chances are they will. 

As I look back on the people who significantly touched my life in a positive way all had these characteristics.  Go ahead be the iron!  When you come in contact with others be the one that lifts them up and brings them to a higher quality and standard of life.