Encouragement

The past two weeks I’ve had a few friends I haven’t seen for some time pop in and out of my life. It was good to see them and converse for a while. We baby-boomers are at the threshold of, or are already, retiring from a life of hard work, most of us earning an honest wage and ready to slow the pace of life a bit. Yes, I’m a Senior Citizen and cringe at the thought of whom I am becoming. I still try to be the life of the party… even if it lasts until 8 p.m. I have become very proficient at opening child-proof caps with my little hammer and water-pump pliers. I’m pretty much ready to go home before I get to where I’m going. I’m generally awake long before my body is ready to get out of bed. I smile a lot more now-a-days because I can’t hear half of what you’re saying. I catch myself telling the same stories over and over and over. People say I’m grouchy, but I don’t think so. I just don’t like traffic, waiting, crowds, lawyers, loud music, unruly kids, Jennie Craig and Toyota commercials, barking dogs, politicians and a few other things I can’t think of at the moment. I’m sure everything I can’t find is in a safe secure place, somewhere. I used to joke, “If I’d known I was going to live this long, I’d have sure enough taken better care of myself” and now I’m discovering the joke is on me. The adage, “Old age ain’t for sissy’s” is coming into view and some serious health maintenance is in order enabling me to press forward without too much pain and gritting my teeth (dentures) all the time. Adults are way too young these days and when did they start allowing kids to become policemen? It’s all down hill now.

All joking aside, life is a wonderful journey set before us by our Creator and hurried along by people sharing the way who take time to encourage our endeavors. “A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success” (Unknown). “Correction does much, but encouragement does more” (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe). “The finest gift you can give anyone is encouragement. Yet, almost no one gets the encouragement they need to grow to their full potential. If everyone received the encouragement they need to grow, the genius in most everyone would blossom and the world would produce abundance beyond our wildest dreams” (Sidney Madwed). “There are high spots in all of our lives and most of them have come about through encouragement from someone else. I don’t care how great, how famous or successful a man or woman may be, each hungers for applause” (George M. Adams). “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I may not forget you” (William Arthur). “I believe that a man’s life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement, if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day, and as nearly as possible reaching the high-water-mark of pure and useful living” (Booker T. Washington). Thanks for yours to me.

[Hebrews 3:12-13] Paul said: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair…” (2 Corinthians 4:8). The word perplexed means more than just being puzzled. It comes from the Greek word “aporeo” which means “to be at loss with ones self; be in doubt; not to know how to decide or what to do, to be perplexed” (Thayer, 66). One might say it means to be at your wit’s end. Using the Word of God to encourage someone who is perplexed is to help keep them from falling into despair. When folks are desperate - life comes unglued. God is love; God is in control; our glue.