Be Encouraged!

Even during the most difficult times, we can be encouraged when we wake up in the morning, knowing that God has given us another day of life on the planet. We may choose to frolic, work or even squander our time, but in whatever we say or do, let us be continuously grateful and encouraged with every fiber of our being.

Discouragement is the antithesis of courage and is the enemy of your heart and soul. Permitting discouragement to rule one's life results in more discouragement and an eventual loss of hope. And without hope, we are ships without a rudder, eagles without wings, trees without fruit.

Thomas Edison

If anyone knew the answer to refusing to be discouraged, it was the noted inventor of the filament and the eventual light bulb we now take for granted. Edison and associates tried in excess of 3,000 theories over a two-year period before success was ever achieved.

Famous inventors

Some of the more famous inventors of the past used drugs, such as methamphetamine, LSD and cocaine. These drugs allowed men not only to stay awake, but think outside the proverbial box. So who used LSD, coke and meth? Some of these men have admitted to their drug use, men of renown, like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Edison, Sigmund Freud, Kary Mullis (inventor of the PCR test) and Francis Crick, who confessed to seeing the the double-helix shape while under the influenced of LSD.

No endorsement of drugs

I do not propose that anyone use nor do I endorse the intake of illegal drugs. Furthermore, I certainly do not advocate a human being taking any mind altering substances. I merely point out that some inventors went to great lengths to enhance their thought process and gain success. This is not necessary whatsoever for us.

Temptations

We face obstacles on a daily basis. Obstacles to our success come in various forms. The primary hurdle we face is our lack of confidence. Another is those who doubt us. Still another is the temptations from Satan. He is real, and if you deny this, you will lose life's battle, for he is considerably more powerful than you or me.

But God has said: "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it" (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Jose Rizal

Rizal was and remains a national hero. He faced myriad temptations and obstacles in life, especially after he criticized the Catholic Church in his seminal screed Noli Me Tangere. Rizal became a target of the Spanish and the Church, but he was not discouraged; he pressed on despite the persecution.

Exiled to Mindanao, Rizal continued to serve people with his medicine and push for freedom. As we know, he was executed by a firing squad on December 30, 1896. I like to believe that he stood proudly before his executioners with considerable grace, never regretting his decisions to advance nationalism, and to break the chains of Spanish rule.

Bad decisions

Here again, we have all made bad decisions and regretted them. Some of us continue to make poor decisions. I would hazard a guess that not everyone's wheels go round and round all the time.

Change

We don't have to be like Robert Downey in the meme above; however, some of us choose to be. Discouragement has a way of making those neurons (cogs) in the brain misfire.

Abraham Lincoln

Between 1832 and 1856, Lincoln ran for political office 8 times and lost (though he did win several smaller appointments). You or I would likely have given up, but Divine Providence was on his side, as he went on to become the 16th President of the United States, from 1860 until his assassination in his second term in April of 1865.

We can choose to put off discouragement and work towards whatever goal in life we dare to choose. Yes, we will have troubles and so called failures, like Edison, Rizal and Lincoln, but I firmly believe a person is never a failure until they actually quit.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Let us take heart, strive for our life's objectives, and in so doing be encouraged. We do not need to take drugs or give in to our temptations, but we can overcome bad decisions in life and reject what others consider our failures, providing we never give up. Like Edison and many others, we have 3,000 chances to get it right.

It's our choice beginning today and every single day thereafter our Lord permits us to live. Again, I say, be encouraged!