ENCOURAGEMENT

YOU CAN DO THIS!

KEEP GOING!

GOOD JOB!

WELL DONE!

WAY TO GO!

Encouraging thoughts and actions are everywhere. Look at the above list--how many of those things have you heard--or said--in the past month?

There seems to be a movement afoot for kids (of all ages) to hear encouraging words--in school, at home, on the playing field, at a piano lesson--you name it, encouragement is the way to go.

You don't have to be a kid to receive and respond to encouragement. So let's look at some ways we can keep the encouragement going.

• simple kindnesses--saying thank you for something done for you (no matter how small); smiling at someone you don't know, just because you feel like it (maybe they need it); letting another shopper in front of you at the checkout (you're in no hurry, he is).
• notes and cards--if you like to write little notes of encouragement, then do that. But if you're "tongue-tied" with a pen in hand, send a card that says "thinking of you." (This is especially helpful if you're writing to someone who has had a death of someone close.) If it's appropriate, let the person know you pray for them.
• celebrate a success--let someone know you appreciate the effort they made to attain a goal.
• small gifts--sometimes a "no-reason present" can lift weary spirits.

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Famous people often mention encouragement they've received while they were working hard to get somewhere; here are a few you might recognize:

No one in my family was a reader of literary fiction. So, I didn't have encouragement, but I didn't have discouragement, because I don't think anybody knew what that meant.   Amy Tan

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Taking an interest in what others are thinking and doing is often a much more powerful form of encouragement than praise.   Robert Martin

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The essential support and encouragement comes from within, arising out of the mad notion that your society needs to know what only you can tell it.   John Updike

Blessings (and keep on keepin' on!)

Thursday's Child