You Can do It

Little Bit was playing on one of those triangular shaped jungle gyms that have the ropes you climb to get to the top.  She has had access to them before, but she has only climbed a few rungs up and decided she was done. 

This one particular day she decided she would do some climbing. I was pretty amazed when she made it half way up. She turned around and sat down where she was. I was sure Little Bit would turn around and climb down or even call for me to get her down. This has happened multiple times in the past. I expected the same results this day. 

But to my surprise, after a short amount of time of sitting, she turned around and began climbing higher. I was awestruck when Little Bit reached the top of the jungle gym, no tears, no fear.  Just joy and excitement that she made it all the way up. 

Well, I expected her to call me over to help he down. Nope. Not at all. She climbed down all by herself without any help or coaching. And not only that, but she did it again. The whole time the Hubs and I were sitting there, jaw dropped. It is not that we doubted her or her ability. It is that we have seen what she has done in the past. We have seen her on jungle gyms before and her reactions. We would always encourage her to keep trying, to keep going. There were times we would even give her a hand to show her it can be done. We knew one day she would do it. We were always her cheer squad. We are always her cheer squad. 

How different would the jungle gym experience be if we hadn’t encouraged her? How would it be different if we allowed her to give in? To quit? What we saw that day would not have happened for many years, if at all. 

The thing is, we have two people in our lives. We have those that encourage us, push us to do our best, reassure us that we can do it. But then we will also have the opposite. 

When we fail, they’ll say, see, I told you you couldn’t do it. Just give up. It is not worth it. They will bring you down and discourage you from reaching your goals. Many times that voice is our own. We many times we are the harshest critique. I see this many times with my math students. They don’t think they can, so they can’t. But I continue to encourage them until they see that they can.  So it is your choice who you listen to.

Will you listen to the voice that says “keep trying, you can do this” or “give up, you’ll never succeed”? 

If Michael Jordan would have listened to his discouragers, he wouldn’t have played for the Bulls. If Albert Einstein listened to his discouragers, we wouldn’t have e=mc^2. Abraham Lincoln wouldn’t have been our 16th president. Vincent Van Gogh wouldn’t have given us The Starry Night. 

In 1 Thessalonians 5:11, we are told to comfort or encourage one another and edify one another. We should encourage each other. We should lift each other up. 

Just like Little Bit was able to climb to the top of the jungle gym because she was continually encouraged, you too can complete what you have been trying yo complete. But you must decide who you will listen to.  Choose today. Who’s voice will you choose? Choose to be encouraged and to encourage others. 

This is possible Only By God’s Amazing Grace.