You're Doing A Great Job

I hate ladders. My body gets shaky any time I have to climb one. However, for anything higher than seven feet tall, I find ladders to be a necessary evil.

In my kitchen at home, there is a vaulted ceiling.  I don't even know how high it is.  There's a light fixture at the highest point of the ceiling with three light bulbs.  Until last night, two of those three bulbs were burned out.  As you may have guessed, I used a ladder to reach them.

After coming down, I went to the couch to rest for a bit.  Not long afterwards, my wife startled me out of my rest to tell me that my two-year-old son was trying to climb the ladder.  I quickly went back into the kitchen and said, "Get down, son! You could get hurt!"  His body froze immediately in fear on the second rung, and my wife shot me the look.

It then hit me that if she had wanted him down off the ladder, she would have taken him down herself. My mind and heart for the situation changed. Knowing my son would be safe as he was well-supervised, I leaned down by his ear and whispered, "you're doing a great job."  Immediately, his face lit up and he climbed as high as his little body would take him, obviously proud of what he had accomplished and encouraged by his father's words.

I'm learning that people are capable of far more than we give them credit for. We have a choice in how we relate to them, though. We can constantly remind them of the obstacles, dangers, limitations, and past failures they face, leading to fear, insecurity, and even more failure. However, as my son taught me, we also have the ability to remind people of their strengths, abilities, powers, and past successes. Encouragement often serves well to empower others, making them want to strive for greater things.  What a blessing to know that someone else believes in you!

Which voice will you be? I pray you choose well. Seek regular encouragement from your Heavenly Father, and then pass on that encouragement to someone else who needs it.  After all, one bit of encouragement may be all they need to keep on climbing.


You're doing a great job, son!

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