Quiet Morning

It's Friday morning and I've been working hard all week, getting everything ready for family visitors. This is my last quiet morning for several days so here I sit in my leather recliner, coffee in hand, still in pjs, enjoying the calm. I still have a few things to do but no pressure. Unfortunately, my husband, who has been working harder and longer than I have, doesn't get a break. I wish he could have a long quiet morning too... maybe in a couple weeks.

I read something on a blog that I am sure I have seen before but never written down: "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 will not forget you. Love me, and I may be forced to love you." William Arthur Ward.

I think the encourage part is the one that sticks out to me. Many years ago, during some of our initial days in ministry, I heard a sermon or read something about encouragement changing people's lives. Since that time in Vancouver, I have really tried to take that idea to heart and intentionally plant encouragement into the lives of others. I'm not always good at it. Sometimes the critical part of me takes over and I see everything negatively, but that is really not who I want to be. I deeply desire to see the world with optimism. I want to see the potential in people, especially children, and lift them so they can become stronger and have the desire to keep moving forward. As I deal with students and colleagues, I try to ask myself, What if this person was my child, my sister, my brother? How would I want someone to respond to him/her? That helps me a lot.

As much as I want to be an encourager to others, I also want to do it for myself. I want to tell myself that I can more than I can't. I want to forgive myself for my mistakes and keep trying to do better. I want to believe that I will make a difference in the world by making a difference in the life of one child or many, the number doesn't matter so much.

So... time to get moving and start the things I have on my to do list for this day.