1. Maintain eye-contact at all times.
2. Receive the words of encouragement.
3. Thank the encourager.
4. Ask if there is anything more.

Maybe it’s a British trait, but I’ve never been very good at receiving encouragement. I always brush it off with a joke, distraction or some light self-deprecation. You might be the same. If you are, then by closing ourselves off to hearing these things in every day life we’ll naturally be closed off from receiving far deeper truth about our identity in Christ. I was shocked at how true this was in my life. When I started to receive general encouragement better and I was far more open to receive biblical truth that was spoken to me.

Obviously don’t make receiving encouragements an aim in life, where you find your identity or a reason to do things, but encouraging each other is biblical. So receive the biblical gift well, as well as giving it. Try it out on friends or family that need encouraging. It’ll be awkward at first, but culture change always is, especially in Britain.