Words of Encouragement

An army of frogs was traveling through the woods when suddenly two frogs fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit, but when they saw how deep it was, they started shouting to their ‘friends’: “You’ll never make it…  There is no way little frogs like you can jump high enough…  You are doomed…”

The frogs who fell in fought for their lives.  They ignored the comments and jumped with all their might over and over again as they desperately tried to make it out of the pit.  The shouts from above did not cease as their fellow frogs motioning wildly with their legs: “keep your energy guys… it’s impossible to jump over… You’ll never make it…”

One of the frogs, discouraged by the shouts of the frogs above, ran out of energy and succumbed to his fate and died.  The other frog, however, refused to give up.  She tried and tried with all her might jumping and jumping as high as she could, while her friends kept motioning excitedly and yelling discouraging statements.  Suddenly, the remaining frog jumped so high that she miraculously made it out of the pit.

“Wow! Remarked her friends.  How did you do that? That pit was so deep …” Signing with her feet, the frog motioned to them that she is deaf and could not hear what they were saying, but when she saw that they were waving excitedly at her, she saw that as encouragement.  That encouragement gave her the strength to keep jumping with all her might until finally she managed to get out…

Did you ever wonder why in sports, the home team has an advantage? It’s because many more people are cheering for home team than the visiting team. When the athletes hear the cheers and words of encouragement from the crowd, they get a second wind and a renewed power to try harder.

How much encouragement do our spouses and children and friends need?!?  When we believe in them (and in ourselves), we help them reach ever higher.  The word chinuch in Hebrew (commonly translated as education) means “to maximize one’s potential.”  Our job as parents is to bring out the best in our children.  They are beautiful souls with tremendous potential that God has specifically entrusted to us.  So let us use foresight.  Let us see the tremendous potential latent within each and every one of our children and always encourage them to reach ever higher.  When we believe in them, when we encourage them, they will grow and shine to great heights.