Thought for
the Day:
John Maxwell,
in his book “Encouragement Changes Everything,” tells the story of Sir Earnest
Shackleton who set out to sea in 1914 to attempt the first land crossing of
Antarctica. His ship never arrived
having become stuck in the ice for months and eventually sank. Shackleton
and his twenty-seven man crew were stranded 1,200 miles from civilization and
drifted on ice floes in the terrifying cold with limited provisions. Eventually they reached a small island. Shackleton and a few other men took a
lifeboat over 800 miles to a whaling station and returned with a rescue
ship. Every single person survived the eighteen
month ordeal mainly due to Shackleton’s constant encouragement and leadership.
“It was
Napoleon who said that a leader is a dealer in hope, and Shackleton was a prime
example of how one person can keep hope alive.
If you know someone who is in the middle of a difficult trial—a long
illness or a period of financial strain—your words of kindness and love, your
confidence in them, your ability to lighten their load can bring hope and encouragement
to their lives.” [John Maxwell,
Encouragement Changes Everything].
Everyone is
lifted up and strengthened in their resolve by encouragement. Encouragement can give you new energy when
you are tired. It can give you hope to
carry on when you are discouraged.
Encouragement can help you achieve what is seemingly impossible. Encouragement can change your attitude and
your outlook. Encouragement really does
change everything.
So we should
constantly be monitoring our communication with other people. “Am I encouraging them or am I discouraging
them?” We should always be asking
ourselves how we can encourage those we come in contact with.
A simple
word, a text, a tweet, a card, a call, a touch, or a look might be all that
someone needs to get through today. If
we look for it, there is always something we can complement someone else
for. Their performance doesn’t have to
be perfect to earn a bit of praise.
Encouragement
is something that we can learn to do if we desire. Some people are natural encouragers; others
of us have to work at it. Like any other
task, we get better at it when we practice.
So make it
your goal to encourage at least one person each day.
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