Encourage Yourself!

Yesterday I talked about encouraging others. Today I’m talking about you encouraging you!

Yes, we can and many times will have to encourage ourselves. There will be times you have to stand alone. Others will not be there for you. They will not see what you see. They will not have your vision, your principles or motivation. You will have to hold the line by yourself. Take courage! This will build fortitude (another word for strength) so you can go further, become stronger, last longer, endure more – (that doesn’t sound fun, it sounds like hardship involved!!!)

We’ll have to chew our own meat – no ground up baby food involved. But I’ve heard it said meat is for the strong. No carnivore diet spoken of intentionally here, but meat makes strong muscles and we’ll need them to weather our storms, mental, emotional, spiritual and physical.

So, you had the idea to build the first lighthouse at sea alerting ships to steer clear and not get dashed to pieces in the dark. ‘How are you going to do that’, somebody said. ‘You can’t, the surf is too strong, water too deep, tide comes in, you’ll get washed out’… and on and on.

Yet! Somebody kept at it. They planned and planned and thought and thought and tried and finally the first successful one was built and saved many lives. ‘I could never do that!’ Maybe not your area of expertise, but there is something that you and you alone can and need to do. You – yes you – plan and think and try things out until you succeed. Begin to encourage yourself more!

Now back to the lighthouse. No one built it completely by themselves, but there had to be an idea, maybe guarded at first until it could develop and ‘build up steam’, and then others became involved. It began with them.

Today I am not giving up on my plan, thought, dream to ….

The Wind

How many of us are afraid of the wind?

The wind blows hard, and people become afraid. Yes, the wind is powerful, but it has purpose. Once we understand its purpose, we can become more comfortable.

Every season the wind blows and blows hard! I would lay in bed and just listen. Or sit in the chair watching out the window wondering…finally, I realized the wind is not something scary, but its purpose is to blow in the new season and blow out the old! In spring, it blows out the cold winter and blows in fresh breezes of a new season. It blows hard at times to help prune the trees, cleaning out the weak and old and readying for new growth. In summer the winds blow out cooler spring bringing in warmer weather for new flowers and leaves and to help pollinate. The fall winds come blowing out summer, blowing hard to bring down all the leaves, ripen remaining late season crops and ready the plants for winter’s cold. The winter winds come blowing fall away and bringing snow and rest for the land and farmers, while we plan our gardens for next spring 🙂 !

Wind is necessary to sail boats. It helps planes fly. Many fear flying in turbulence not realizing the plane is designed to fly in turbulence. It can handle it! So passengers can rest assured of their destination and enjoy the ride.

The wind blows in storm clouds, rain, thunder and lightning which fertilizes a massive amount of land with one strike! That’s why the grass and trees are so green after a good thunderstorm. Wind blows scents and smells to help wildlife survive.

Next time the wind blows, remember some of these purposes and be more at ease. It is all part of the plan of nature.