As a young man, teens into early adulthood, one tends to shy away from encouraging your friends with real and simple words of encouragement.  Instead, one says something like, “Sup man.”  “Nothin’, sup wit’ you?”  “Nutin, man.  ya know, stuff just happenin’”  “Cool.  Cool.”  And if this really intense conversation gets any deeper, it typically has to do with the Celtics or the hottie who just walked into that store.

I don’t remember the first time I started saying things  like “Thank you for being a great example in my life” or “I have to tell you that that act of service was nothing short of amazing” to other people face to face, but I do know that each time I do it, it gets less cheesy and less uncomfortable.  Not saying anything against thank you notes because I like them and I send them, but it takes guts and emotional risk to step outside of your comfort zone and say something absolutely nice and true to someone’s face.  I know, it shouldn’t and it seems weird to say it, but far too often we fear the reaction of others so we keep silent and talk about the weather.  This is especially true for guys.

Is it true for you?

Perhaps you’ve had one recently…Perhaps not.  Mine was the last 24 hours.  It was interesting because it had been a long weekend and I was tired.  There had been a few ups and a lot of downs. 

Without going into details about what the ups and the downs were, I think I was just tired, and so the downs were highlighted in my mind.  It wasn’t a bad weekend.  It was just a hard one.  Maybe you’ve had one of those before?

And then it happened, starting yesterday morning.

Someone wrote me an email that was so encouraging, it could have, by itself, put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.  But it wasn’t by itself.
A short while later, someone called my cell and left an incredibly encouraging voice mail.  Then I received a facebook wall comment that was encouraging while I was playing basketball last night. (My team won by the way, 48-38, with yours truly putting up 12.) 

I went to bed smiling and had a great night’s sleep, which is not unusual for me, I sleep quick and good on a typical night.  But this morning, I received a comment on this blog that was, once again, incredibly encouraging.

So I start off this day with the anticipation of readiness for a long, adventurous week, but armed with a little help from people who have communicated to me how much they appreciate me.

So I wonder who needs some encouragement today from me…from you?

Until next time…