Day of Encouragement
I awoke this morning having recalled the first poem I had ever written. It was a home work assignment. I wrote:
The bright blue Caribbean Sea.
Stretches forth for all to see;
A trail of Islands at its feet.
Any tourists will its natives greet.
The English teacher I had at that time raved about it. It was abundantly apparent that she was extremely pleased with the poem. That was 30 years ago, and I still remember her name, Mrs. Alvarez. I recall that it was not only this poem that she liked but that she encouraged me at other times when I did not feel particularly confident about her subject matter.
“You are very good at this,” she said to me. I went on to do remarkably well on my final exams.
Years later while taking a writing class in College. The writing professor did the same exact thing. I cannot recall his name, but what I do remember was that he was a writing enthusiast. An article of his was published in Redbook. He encouraged his class to all go out and get our self a copy. I was not a Redbook reader at that time and had no interest in writing so I did not purchase the magazine. He later brought a reporter friend of his to our class. Although I do not remember his name, I have total recall of hers, Ms Eleanor Haynes. What truly caught my attention was that she was handing out samples of newspaper with articles she had written. Not everyone was interested in getting a copy of her article, but I was. She asked me what my name was, and before she handed it to me, she wrote: To Ruth the quiet one, Good luck. I kept the copy of that article, and up to this day, I wondered why she thought I was quiet. Even as, that professor encouraged me to write, I remembered telling him, I am in nursing not journalism.
From very early on my mother taught me that, with everything I did, I should do it all to the glory of God. In other words, to do all things to the very best of my ability in order that even our creator can glory in all that I do. So for me whether it was writing or caring for my children or patient, I did it all passionately.
Writing took on significance beyond what I intended, both as an enabler and an outlet. In the days after having children the same tool that my teachers encouraged me to cultivate became my savior. Many times when I was unable to take a break, expressing myself through writing was my only outlet. For example, there were some things that I felt others around me could not understand or identify with because they had no knowledge or experience with some of the issues I had to deal with. With that, I refrained from discussing them with others and chose to write about them. I did not purposefully set out to write a poetry book but after years of writing I had accumulated enough poems to compile into a collection. I called my anthology Fantasy/Controversy or My Reality.
Even as, my teachers in my life encouraged me with my writing as life sometimes become more and more challenging, I think that I need an encourager. For some that one person can be a spouse, a friend or a parent. Just a kind word, a smile or a hug can go a tremendously long way and no one can predict the importance of such an action. It may just change someone’s life for years to come. So let’s make today a day of enabling. Tell one person what a fantastic job they are doing. For all you who have encouraged me throughout the years and even today, thank you.
The bright blue Caribbean Sea.
Stretches forth for all to see;
A trail of Islands at its feet.
Any tourists will its natives greet.
The English teacher I had at that time raved about it. It was abundantly apparent that she was extremely pleased with the poem. That was 30 years ago, and I still remember her name, Mrs. Alvarez. I recall that it was not only this poem that she liked but that she encouraged me at other times when I did not feel particularly confident about her subject matter.
“You are very good at this,” she said to me. I went on to do remarkably well on my final exams.
Years later while taking a writing class in College. The writing professor did the same exact thing. I cannot recall his name, but what I do remember was that he was a writing enthusiast. An article of his was published in Redbook. He encouraged his class to all go out and get our self a copy. I was not a Redbook reader at that time and had no interest in writing so I did not purchase the magazine. He later brought a reporter friend of his to our class. Although I do not remember his name, I have total recall of hers, Ms Eleanor Haynes. What truly caught my attention was that she was handing out samples of newspaper with articles she had written. Not everyone was interested in getting a copy of her article, but I was. She asked me what my name was, and before she handed it to me, she wrote: To Ruth the quiet one, Good luck. I kept the copy of that article, and up to this day, I wondered why she thought I was quiet. Even as, that professor encouraged me to write, I remembered telling him, I am in nursing not journalism.
From very early on my mother taught me that, with everything I did, I should do it all to the glory of God. In other words, to do all things to the very best of my ability in order that even our creator can glory in all that I do. So for me whether it was writing or caring for my children or patient, I did it all passionately.
Writing took on significance beyond what I intended, both as an enabler and an outlet. In the days after having children the same tool that my teachers encouraged me to cultivate became my savior. Many times when I was unable to take a break, expressing myself through writing was my only outlet. For example, there were some things that I felt others around me could not understand or identify with because they had no knowledge or experience with some of the issues I had to deal with. With that, I refrained from discussing them with others and chose to write about them. I did not purposefully set out to write a poetry book but after years of writing I had accumulated enough poems to compile into a collection. I called my anthology Fantasy/Controversy or My Reality.
Even as, my teachers in my life encouraged me with my writing as life sometimes become more and more challenging, I think that I need an encourager. For some that one person can be a spouse, a friend or a parent. Just a kind word, a smile or a hug can go a tremendously long way and no one can predict the importance of such an action. It may just change someone’s life for years to come. So let’s make today a day of enabling. Tell one person what a fantastic job they are doing. For all you who have encouraged me throughout the years and even today, thank you.
Comments
Post a Comment