Day Three: encourage one another

"Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is; treat a man as he should be and he will become as he can and should be." - Goethe

"Flatter me and I may not believe you;
Criticize me and I may not like you;
Ignore me and I may not forgive you;
Encourage me and I will not forget you."
- William Arthur Ward

Encouragement in this day and age is scarce. It is replaced with negative comments and sarcasm that we justify as love. We all need to feel that we are doing the right thing sometimes. I know that God calls us to be faithful and confident when we are following His will, but like I said, sometimes we just need a pat on the back. Christian brothers and sisters should be here to give you that nudge. We fall short of this out of selfishness and sometimes out of unawareness.

Our lesson for this morning was to encourage one another. Especially in this atmosphere, it is so important to push and love each other with our actions and words. The hard thing is translating that when we get back to the states. Everything around us in the United States will tell us to look out for ourselves and to think pessimistically. It takes energy to encourage - energy that "we don't have." I hope that we can just continue a legacy of love and encouragement over the course of this trip, and therefore instill that in ourselves from here on out.

-k10