Life Will Bring Encouragement or Discouragement

Edward Steichen, who eventually became one of the world's most renowned photographers, almost gave up on the day he shot his first pictures. At 16, young Steichen bought a camera and took 50 photos. Only one turned out -- a portrait of his sister at the piano. Edward's father thought that was a poor showing. But, his mother insisted that the photograph of his sister was so beautiful that it more than compensated for 49 failures.

Her encouragement convinced the youngster to stick with his new hobby. He stayed with it for the rest of his life, but it had been a close call. What tipped the scales? The vision to spot excellence in the midst of a lot of failure. -Bits & Pieces, February 4, 1993, pp. 4-5.

Who said staying encouraged was easy? Truthfully, we spend more time discouraged in life than we do encouraged. Take your own life for example. When we were children we had all sorts of dreams and aspirations for our lives. Our dreams were big; the sky was the limit. As time moved along, we grew up, got a little older, and maybe a little wiser, or more cynical.

Whatever the case, life continues forward. But, what happened to those childhood dreams? Many of us followed different paths than what we started out on. Some of us were even fortunate enough to be able to see our dreams come to fruition. If you were one of those lucky ones, then consider yourself truly blessed!

However, as for the rest of us, we may or may not get to realize our dreams. As they say, the jury is still out on that one. Is this discouraging? I think it depends on how you look at it, and how much you let it affect you. God has a master plan for each one of us. Of course, only He knows what that might be. Being human, and having only a human perspective on life, it's impossible for us to even try to think on His level.

Discouragement is part of this life. There really is no getting around it. Therefore, it's important to encourage, and be encouraged. Who couldn't use a pat on the back every now and then? As a matter of fact, the Bible has many stories of encouragement, and discouragement. Like the characters in the Bible, God knows that we, living today, sometimes need a gentle hand to lift us up. or swift kick in the pants to set us straight!

Personally, I think that it all evens itself out in the end. As we look back on our lives, we shall see that there were equal parts of encouragement and discouragement. Keep in mind that our lives transpire one day at a time. We tend to see our lives in chunks, which if you're looking for good and bad can be deceiving. Break your life down into small, daily pieces and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Look for opportunities to encourage someone today. Just this simple act will encourage you, in return. If you notice, both encouragement and discouragement contain the word "courage." The definition for courage is: the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

God will give you the courage to face anything that comes your way. He will give you the courage to press on despite feeling discouraged. He will encourage you to continue being an example of His life towards others. God loves you, and He loves me, That should be all the encouragement we need to live our lives as He meant for us to!

Scripture: Joshua 1:9; 2 Timothy 1:7;Proverbs 30:5; Philippians 4:13; Psalm 34:4

Prayer: Holy Father, I pray for your encouragement that I might be an example of your love towards others. Everyone deals with discouragement while in this world, but it's comforting to know that when the skies turn dark, and the wind blows cold; You will provide the warm sunlight that encourages our hearts; and lets us know that better days are ahead. Amen

May God bless you,

Sarah