If I could give you a gift today it would be Encouragement.
The caption to this picture is entitled “Rescuing Hug”. The article describes the first week of a set of twins. Apparently the hospital rules dictated that each infant was to be in his or her own incubator. One was not expected to live. A nurse fought against the rule and placed the babies in one incubator. Placed together, the healthier of the two threw an arm over her sister in an endearing embrace. The smaller baby’s heart rate stabilized and her temperature rose to normal.
This afternoon I sat in a room with a group of former reticent, begrudging writers who like myself took on the challenge of writing several blog posts for November. When we started some of us who were inexperienced struggled with the “Beginner Woes”: those statements that run around in our heads when we start something new.
- “I don’t know what to write about.”
- “When I start to write my mind goes blank!” or the dreaded
- “I don’t have anything to write about that anyone would want to read!”
Others of us were more experienced some having written from early childhood. For these folks it was facing the challenges of
- “I’m running out of things to say”
- “I’m bored with writing”
- “I’m bored with my writing” or the dreaded
- “How do I make WordPress work????”
For one month we journeyed together learning from each other, inspired and encouraged by each other, but especially by Deborah Drake our facilitator. Today we celebrated the end of one beginning and the continuing journey. Some chose to read one of our own blogs or the blogs of others who inspired us. As I listened, I was in awe. There was such quality and diversity and respect for those who made any attempt. But most of all, I was awed by the power of Encouragement.
I found myself asking, “What could happen if in our schools, in the education of our future generations, these future leaders were encouraged to try something they were afraid to try, to not worry about grades or peer pressure or the humiliation of not being ‘perfect’? What are we doing to our kids in school and at home that this sense of adventure and experimentation is squelched instead of guided?” I worked with teens for a short period and saw it all too often.
Today I saw that “as we let our own light shine we [do indeed] unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” It was amazing to behold. It was a gift we gave each other, a gift we gave ourselves and it all started with Deborah and her gift of Encouragement.
Yes, if I could give you a gift today, it would be the gift of Encouragement. Pursue your dreams, make manifest the glory of God that is within you. Live your life as only you can, for only you can. You are a gift to the universe.
