Encouragement is Oxygen for the Soul

“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 you, and I will not forget you.” ~ William Arthur Ward

“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.”
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“You need to be aware of what others are doing; applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.” ~ Jim Stovall

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

“Encouragement is oxygen for the soul.” ~ Jessie Irwin

“We live by encouragement and die without it – slowly, sadly, angrily.”
~ Celeste Holm


“You are being forwarded to voicemail box, ***** can’t take this call right now. Please enjoy the music…”

As the ukulele strums I find myself singing along with *****’s waiting music, “Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly…” I am irritated to need to leave another message, but her music always makes me smile and it relieves the surface tension. I am running short on time to hear back from her before I have to make a decision without her. It’s not her fault, or mine, this communication log jam has simply developed because of our very busy schedules.

Busy is a four letter word.

I have been the queen of the answering machine lately, needing to leave messages everywhere, not just in my town. (Has it really been over 100 messages these past few days? Why am I even trying to keep a count?) The most effective way to use a message system is to leave a detailed enough message that can almost prevent someone from needing to call back. “This is what I need”, “I got your message and picked up the orange Gerbera daisies and returned the blue gardenias”, “This is where I’ll be…” “I have ### with me and will be here until 5:36.” Email and texting fill in the cracks enough that ensure I touched base, brought the right paperwork, got the right signature, etc.

Yet with all of this communication, it is telling to me how little I get to speak to a real person, in a real conversation.

I answer email while I am in Master’s Greek class, in between parsing 2nd and 3rd declension nouns, and take care of routine ministry requests (the Sunday worship bulletin for printing) with a few keystrokes and a Send command. I have been surrounded by people, more than usual, because of our increased holiday intake, crisis intervention and solution-creation, but it is their concerns and problems which occupy our time together.

Like Bilbo Baggins describes, “I feel…thin. Sort of stretched, like …butter scraped over too much bread.” (Tolkien, J.R.R. The Fellowship of the Ring)

Playing phone tag with others, them leaving a message telling me what they need, me answering back with answer/action description. All accounted for, but not a conversation. Effective – yes, but efficient? Well, decidedly not.

Last night (which included calling hours, hockey game, basketball practice) I found myself on the sidelines in a community gym and felt like the day had been very heavy. So much done, so much yet to do – and then, as if a breath of fresh air, a gift. One of N. basketball coaches also coaches baseball and talked with me for nearly 10 minutes about my children, most specifically about my sons. Not about schedules and games, but to compliment and inform me on how my boys were doing. He wanted to check about my oldest, who had a nightmare of a baseball season last year… and make sure he was doing okay. I hadn’t talked with him before; he was just aware of a level of injustice and wanted to bring some explanations (which were eye-opening) and some encouragement (which was needed). He didn’t have to say a thing, but his thoughtfulness and his generosity with his time meant so much. The day that felt so heavy was still 24 hours long with all of its same circumstances woven into it, but its weight felt so much lighter exclusively because of someone else’s encouragement.

No one ever has too much encouragement! Give encouragement to as many people around you as possible. Encouragement is like a cool drink of water to someone who is incredibly thirsty. You may not even realize how thirsty that person actually is. We are rarely in a situation where there isn’t someone we can encourage. Resist the tendency to criticize, instead build guidance and instruction into your speech layered with encouragement. People need encouragement desperately, for big and small things – none of us are impervious to the attacks of discouragement. To give authentic encouragement requires a small dedication to think about someone else, unselfishly – listening to their words (what is said and what is not said). Authentic encouragement is not seeking reciprocal admiration, but stopping and highlighting someone else’s choices, actions, lifting them up. Your encouragement to one person can be passed on to more people within their lives. Encouragement is a hopeful transaction of trust and faith. The witness of God’s love will be bigger and wider and more vibrant because of your effort to give encouragement to one person. Help make someone’s burden be light as feather, find a way to be an aggressive encourager today.

“When he arrived there and saw the wonderful things God was doing, he was filled with excitement and joy, and encouraged the believers to stay close to the Lord, whatever the cost. Barnabas was a kindly person, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. As a result large numbers of people were added to the Lord.” Acts 11:23-24

Watch Out for Moose and Deer

Who can hope to be safe? who is sufficiently cautious?Guard himself as he may, every moment's an ambush. ~Horace

Accidents, and particularly street and highway accidents, do not happen - they are caused. ~Ernest Greenwood

It’s a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one’s safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract - Alan Shepherd.
Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands - Jeff Cooper.
To keep oneself safe does not mean to bury oneself - Seneca

Prepare and prevent, don't repair and repent. ~Author Unknown

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, whcih specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Jospeh Heller


The moon is still full in the sky and constellations shine brightly from their celestial home. “Hey, Orion, it’s good to see you,” I say, gazing at the night-sky littered with sparkling diamonds. I look for him in every dark sky, following his seasonal placement and movement. We live in a very rural area, not inundated with excessive industrial and residential light pollution, and though there are many days lost to cloud cover, I can find Orion each week of the year. It’s a comforting habit to know I am not alone, that this ancient hunter with his stylish belt and helmet and handy spear are on guard.
“It’s a bit late for you isn’t it?” I question my star-filled friend, glancing at the clock (5:25 a.m.), filling my van with the day’s essentials in a few trips. Books, breakfast, cuppa coffee, lunch, laptop, more books, purse, palm pilot, camera, a few more books, VHS tapes to be returned to the library, a sweater, phone (How do I need so many things?) Late October in Northeast OH has a dark sky very late in the morning and every early in the evening – daylight savings time will be coming soon with its forgiving “fall back” hour which always seems to provide for me a gracious extra amount of time for more than a week. But for now, this pre-breakfast commute to the other side of the state for Master’s classes in Greek and Puritanism will be by the light of the silvery moon.

My husband has just come home from the gym just before I go, and I step upstairs to wake up half of the kid crew – their bus will be here by 7 a.m. so they need to be out of bed by 6…”Wakee, wakee, eggs and bakeee”

Dave coming in and me going out, to be away from each other most of the day he affectionately reminds me, as he always has: “Watch out for moose and deer.”

I had no idea how important it would be to me that day.

When I first met Dave we were university students in the Music School at the University of Akron. Both full-time students, he working two additional jobs, me working one and both of us keeping a full schedule of gigs, we were driving in so many different directions. Time together was scarce and regularly we were tired and a drive home was loaded with the possibility to be driving while sleepy. He would say, “Watch out for moose and deer” and getting to know his parents, I knew this is what his father would say to him as he was leaving the house. It was Irwin affection developed by hunters and brothers who lived in Maine wilderness areas – “Take care of yourself, be safe even when there is present danger around.”

It was not casual or intended to be funny; it was playfully serious. A moose in the road will not move or run and will walk away from the accident that devastated your vehicle. In deer season, when you are driving in green and wooded areas, you are in the feeding and safe areas for these animals which are hiding and feeling pursued. They will run out into the road at unpredictable times – you have to keep in mind that they could run into your path and be ready to stop quick and avoid them.

So when Dave lovingly reminded me, “Watch out for moose and deer,” I kept in mind he wants me drive like I have some sense.

It takes me 20 minutes to even get to the highway, navigating the rural roads and thoroughfares on my journey. The corn, potato and soy crops have been harvested and most farms are bare and desolate, waiting for the autumn plowing and winter wheat. I had downloaded a version of Pilgrim’s Progress and burned a cd of it to pass my 100 minute trip, so I am driving and paying attention, but I am paying attention to many things.
And then, on the left, it was a 10 point buck (maybe it was 12 points) standing right by the side of the road, grazing, contemplating, waiting. It is still very dark and to see a deer there was striking. Would he run and dash across the traffic? Would he remain on the side of the road? Traffic slowed down immediately, perilously, aware that danger was present.
Within 2 more minutes, on the right there are two does…are there more? Are there young ones, too? Are they waiting for an open space to run or will they bolt out regardless of my van or the trucks and cars around us? Driving has me on edge, keeping in mind that I need to keep my wits and pay attention to the coming landscape.
Then, without any warning a pick-up truck tries to cross at an intersection with traffic bearing down, hardly any leeway for his truck to fit or anyone else to get out of the way. Cars are anticipating the impending crash, peeling off to the left and right like a gigantic banana peeling off in several directions. The semi truck who has been driving in the lane right next to me begins to anticipate the impact and tries to correct – by switching to my lane! So, squeezed into a rock and a hard place, it seems like an accident will happen, I will be in the middle of it and there is nothing to stop it all.
My heart is pounding right through my chest and I am praying as I am watching this all. Someone else’s stupid driving has caused a dozen of us to begin making reckless choices about how to solve the problem. The accident is avoided – oh, I hate stupid drivers – but the rest of my trip has my hands shaking, my heart rate elevated, my imagination keyed as I see my family picture without me and my nerves are shredded. I’m fiercely angry and crying – wanting to be safe, danger was lurking, ready to pounce.


Be vigilant about your life – WATCH OUT – for there is danger lurking all around, camped out on the fringes waiting for a vulnerable time to use its strength. Reach out to God to be your stronghold, especially for those weeks that get busier than ever imagined. God will be your refuge, your fortress, your protector when facing the danger life brings, both to our outer lives and our inner lives. Protect yourselves and those you love. Be vigilant about your life.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” Psalm 91:1-4 NIV