I don't know what kind of feelings flood the spirit of a cyclist when his body, panting in the effort to reach the summit of the mountain pass, is relieved by the pitcher of cold water thrown by a fan to give encouragement.
I have had the opportunity to meet people who, after a difficult night that has become too long, they go out into the street with the hidden illusion that someone will give them an affectionate pat. on your back and say two words to help you get to the end of the day.
Perhaps in few things are we mortals more alike than when it comes to discouragement. There are so many goals that we have to reach throughout life, that it is not too difficult for us to run up against even the most beaten paths. There are so many illusions that we engender that it is not surprising that many times they are frustrated even before they are born.
The rich are discouraged, perhaps in their desire to have more or to see that money does not solve everything, and the poor, who do not know how to get to the end of the day; the intelligent, because they never manage to unravel all the mysteries that surround them, and the less gifted, who perhaps do not manage to distill the aroma of ordinary things to better enjoy the joy of living.
The strong and the weak are discouraged, because we are all limited; those of the right, those of the center, those of the left; those of the north and those of the south; women and men and children when they begin to be conscious; doctors and patients; the healthy and those of the left; those of the right and those of the left; those of the north and those of the south; women and men and children when they begin to be conscious; doctors and patients; the healthy and those of the right and those of the left. patients. And any ordinary Christian who returns home dissatisfied, grumbling about how little the day has yielded.
We are discouraged by what we are not and would like to be; by the love we would like to give, and we offend; even by the word of comfort that is unwelcome and, instead of consoling, adds sorrow to sorrow; by our blunders with the best intention in the world.
Discouragement is known to sinners and to those who santosThe elderly, who also have their share of sinners, are well aware that they do not correspond to the love that God manifests to them. Perhaps only the old man burdened with years is saved from discouragement and turns it into fruitful hope, because he has already lived long enough to realize that only Paradise is worth missing.
We have to live with discouragement, but we cannot live with it. The normal discouragement that looks for a word of encouragement to become again the desire to start again, because in the end it is to become aware of the limits of our being creatures of God. God.
It does not go well, however, the "state of discouragement", the profession of "discouraged", which ends in a sour, angry, unbearable pessimism. And this is where gratitude for a word of encouragement, for a "get up, it's no big deal", gets its flavor.
The singer was discouraged and began to sing "¿Qué pájaro será aquel / que canta en la verde oliva? / Anda y dile que se le silen / que su cante mi lastima" (What bird is that one / that sings in the green olive tree? / Go and tell him to shut up / that his singing hurts me). Only a very dejected man can be hurt by the singing of a bird.
It is hard to say a word of encouragement, sometimes it can be hard to give a glass of water to the thirsty, to comfort the sad. We can always have the feeling that we are intruding where no one is calling us and even that we are going to be fired with a bang. Even if it is good for them, not everyone has the good spirit to be grateful for something they need.
No matter, the encouraging word always renews the roots of good in the heart that has engendered it, and creates in his mind and around him the joy of living, even in the discouragement of every day.
Ernesto Juliálawyer and priest, ernesto.julia@gmail.com.
Original collaboration published in Religión Confidencial. Knowing how to give encouragement.
