Category Archives: Encouragement

Don’t let no Oil Spill Turn You ’Round

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Reddish and snowy egrets together

Reddish and snowy egrets weathering the oil spill together, photographed June 12, 2010, Dauphin Island

Today I was told, “This oil spill’s going to last for the rest of our lives.” Hopefully not, but one thing’s for sure, the human family has storms enough coming and brewing now to fill our lifetimes. “Constant vigilance!” as Mad-eye Moody vowed needs to be our motto too. In the last blog entry, I spoke of encouragement. But right now southerly winds are pushing the oil toward the Gulf beaches. Hurricane season is beginning with the warmest waters on record ready to fuel the cyclones. The economy worldwide is in disarray. So, ultimately, encouragement needs deeper roots.

That’s why, right now I’m humming African American spirituals which helped sustain deep encouragement in the midst of great trouble. “Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile …” “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen …”

The spirituals proclaimed a firm, rebellious hope as well. “Trouble Don’t Last for Always …” “Don’t let nobody turn you ’round!” And later, “Don’t let segregation turn you ’round!” Today, let’s say together, “Don’t let no oil spill turn you ’round!” Today, like before, for all our problems, let it be a hope held inside. A hope held in common. The spirituals did not offer a quick fix, but an intergenerational hope passed from the old to the young, from parents to children, from friends to friends. A hope engraved in hearts by generous service. A hope sustained by the winds of the Spirit.

 

Encouragement

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Pond with lots of blooming flowers

Pond with unexpected floral display, photographed June 12, 2010

First thing this morning, my son, Edward says, “Dad, have you seen the pond this morning?” Looking out the window, needing encouragement but expecting the worse, I saw a dozen water hyacinths in full bloom and three water lilies blooming too. Wild flowers were blooming around the pond as well. Wow!

Work, patience, nourishment, good habits, and thoughtfulness had helped those flowers bloom. Like flowers, we and all those close to us need encouragement to grow into the unique, beautiful persons that we are.

I wonder how often the oil spill workers are encouraged. Most days they perform extraordinary tasks on our beaches in the scorching sun. With their hard work, many of the worst areas have been big-time cleaned. The oil eruption continues to cause serious problems, and more problems are still to come, but each day steady progress is being made on the beaches. Yesterday and today, I saw several encouraging signs of life too, a sea turtle swimming up and down in the waves, beach grass swaying in clear water, egrets feasting on minnows in tidal pools, …

Encouragement is not meant to be a nice idea. We either do it or we don’t. We either experience it or we don’t. Encouragement takes work, patience, nourishment, good habits, and thoughtfulness. Encouragement can be experienced by inviting friends and needy ones over for dinner, spending time with children, doing something special each day with your spouse, calling a friend, smiling, volunteering, supporting the works of others, prayer, being appreciative of oneself, … With steady effort, encouragement can become second nature to us and help us stay afloat like the sea turtle in the waves of life.


Celine Dion – Because you loved me