“You have to watch the episode ‘Baby Race’; it made me cry,” said one friend of the popular children’s TV show Bluey.
Sidenote: my grandchildren LOVE Bluey.
The episode shows the title character’s mom, Chili, being driven to show off her baby’s skill set. No matter Chili’s efforts, baby Bluey simply won’t start crawling like the other babies in her playgroup. Chili feels despair as she does all she can to no avail – even though Bluey is happy, healthy, and meeting other developmental milestones.
As I watched, I found myself smiling at the baby antics. The mom is frustrated, sure, but it’s not a sad episode, I thought. I wonder why my friend cried.
At the very end, Bella visits Chili, noticing she had felt too discouraged to attend playgroup. She shows Chili a picture of her own nine children. A surprised Chili says, “You must have learned a thing or two.”
“I have! And there’s something you need to know,” Bella says as she offers her friend an understanding smile. “You’re doing great.”
Ok, I’ll admit. I got as misty-eyed as Chili at that.
We have all been there, whether with work, parenting, or life itself piling up. We feel like we have no more to give and yet things aren’t working out like we hoped. We feel crushed under the weight of cultural or personal expectations.
And then someone says just what we need to hear.
Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A, is known for saying this: “How do you know someone needs encouragement? If they’re breathing.”
Everyone needs encouragement. As a parent, grandparent, educator, youth worker, and organizational leader I am constantly seeing this played out in real life. And as ambassadors for Christ, we all need to be encouragers. Our words and our leadership should be filled with supportive, kind thoughtfulness.
I recently read a report (the 2023 Young Life Global Relate Project Report) that had some statistics that absolutely broke my heart. This one stood out:
40% of Gen Z and Gen Alpha don’t believe
they are worthy of being loved.
The next generations are in a crisis of discouragement.
What is encouragement, exactly? I love the definition that it’s giving courage. More than simply affirming someone, it’s empowering them with the truth and reminders they need to be their best.
No matter who we are leading or coaching – peers, students, the next generation – we need to think of ourselves as encouragers of them. We need to model encouragement so that they can spread it, too.
Scientific studies have shown that encouragement and social support can significantly improve academic effort and engagement and increase resilience in mental health patients.
We need encouragement. We’re called to be encouragers.
Blog post originally from teresamoon.org
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