Encouragement

There are times in all of our lives that we need encouragement and often not a great deal of it, just a little will do.  Rick and I both had been our of sorts the past few days, concern for the dogs, anxious about my doctor's visit, the oppressive heat, and the seemingly never ending thread of bad news that bombards media.

But an amazing thing took place in the past twenty-four hours, we found encouragement.
We found it through the kindness and concern of so many about those sweet little dogs.  We found it in honesty and kindness of a good doctor.  We found it as we looked around us in our neighbors and friends and family.

What changed?  We looked for it, the good...we refused to think that all kindness and caring had disappeared.  It never really went anywhere, we just lose sight of it sometimes.  We let the hate and fear creep in, but thankfully, we stood our ground, we knew in our hearts we would find the encouragement we needed and we did.

Don't give up, refuse to be beaten.  I am here tonight to encourage you.  There is still beauty, there is still goodness, there is still kindness and love.  You can't close your eyes, you look for it and it is there.  Spread the word, encourage others, your friends and neighbors, family and strangers.
Our common thread, our bond is our humanity.  We are not the masses in the streets or on the news.
We are the ones who care, who help each other, who lend a hand, who are there when needed.

Encouragement is free, spread it where ever you go. It is something we all need.