Our God-Created World is perfectly balanced and continually in motion. Everything on and in the world in which we live is either growing or dying. Constant, unrelenting movement and change is always taking place, 24/7. Nothing that is alive is ever just standing still. It is either moving forward, or it is moving backward. There is no such thing as just “holding your own,” just “treading water,” just the “same old, same old.” Whether you and I like it or not, time waits for no man or woman and the only two scarce things on earth are (1) time and (2) good physical/mental health.

Remember, the Bible says that God came to this earth so that we (you and me) could have life, and have it more abundantly. The Good life is indeed yours and mine for the taking. But, as is always the case, you and I must make the first move. We must take the initiative. Success does not attack!

You have heard me tell you many times before that you can have anything in life you truly do want,…IF,…you are willing to help enough other people get what they want first. To create long and lasting success for your life, the secret is to first help and assist other people to succeed in their lives.

In order to accomplish that, you have to get involved in other people’s lives. Consequently you have to learn and know how to establish and live out good people skills, social manners, good and acceptable behavior, and proper personal relationships. Those type things are not given to you at birth. You must come to know them on your own and then employ and perfect them as you grow. These are all learned skills and there are no known limitations to learning them except laziness and having an unmotivated negative mental attitude. The truth of the matter is that most people live out their entire lives without ever learning or employing (and thereby modeling them) these essential people skills and behaviors.

It is your own personal responsibility to learn and use these specific skills for yourself!

Mental growth is the key that unlocks the door to all true success in your own life! And you must never forget that only you have control over your own brain…(unless you have given such control away or allowed someone else to take it from you).

It is your own decisions and choices that will ultimately decide your own destiny.

The greatest of all the successful people in the world are those who take it upon themselves to become “Life Enrichers.” These are people who spend their entire existence on earth uplifting, encouraging, assisting, and teaching other people how to really come to know who they really are, and what they are really trying to accomplish with the use of their own lives here on earth. In short, they are always encouraging and giving hope to other people. They are “uplifters.” They are good examples, and they are well-rooted in God’s Truths. They always identify themselves because they are always enthusiastic about loving and serving their God by loving and serving their fellow man.

Do you qualify to be called an “Uplifter of other people?”

Being a Life Enricher, an Uplifter of other people, takes lots of preparation, time, energy, mental growth, and personal resources. It ain’t always so easy to be one.

Even Encouragers have some rough days and times come into their own lives. Being positive all the time takes lots of concentration and hard work. Positive means being positive all waking hours and in all possible events and circumstances. Doing that takes a Herculean effort and commitment.

Achieving all these attributes will not usually happen unless one has a long and deep “spiritual root” to their life and a well developed personal relationship with their own God. You must remember that you cannot order such things as these. They don’t come in tablets, capsules, or liquid forms that a person can easily pop into their mouths and quickly swallow. Not so! These type things, these type talents and abilities, are all learned and painstakingly developed over long periods of time. The more you invite and include God to be part of your developments and efforts, the easier and quicker you will be able to master them. People skills and God’s Truths are better and more easily learned through personal performance than they are any other way. “Learn by doing” is the preferred method of accomplishment.

Now comes the rub and the very thing that keeps most people from achieving their personal dreams and goals in life: rejection, criticism, and discouragement. These are all tools of the devil! There are only overcome by continued on-going effort and perseverance. It is all right to not get to where it is that you really want to go in your desired time frame, but it is not all right to get frustrated because you are not getting there fast enough. Frustration is an overt sign that you don’t know what you are doing. It is O.K. to be anxious; just don’t be frustrated.

Knowledge over-comes ignorance; positive over-comes negative.

Just as “Leadership is not taught as much as it is caught,” so it goes with people skills and personal social behavior.

You should know that the very best way to lead other people is by your own example. So as it is with modeled good personal behavior and social manners. It is the wise person who teaches others by his own good and proper example.

God clearly tells us what were are to do in the Book of James, Chapter 1, verse 22 NKJV:

(22) “But be a doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving
yourselves.”

It is in the same spirit with the above godly command that I share, model, and give as an example of what I am discussing with you in this article. I share the following things, words, and actions that were taken on my behalf by one of my closest personal friends and business associates. It is my personal prayer that you “catch” what it is that I am trying to communicate to you.

I have been extremely ill for the past three years and more particularly in the past twelve months. I have not been as actively involved in my business as I have desired to be. My poor health would not permit me to continue the pace I have always kept. Life for me has been a rigorous and sometimes tortuous thing to endure and get through. I have not been able to travel and participate in business activities as I have desired. It seems like every time I get over a physical challenge of one form or another, along comes another problem as big or bigger than the one I just overcame.

Whenever these disappointments flow into my life, I have learned to go back to God’s promises, as written in His word, and read one or two of them out loud directly back to God Himself. Not in a demanding way but in a grateful and gracious way for what He has promised to do for me under any and all circumstances.

Be that as it may, allow me to set the stage for the lesson of this article.

At the beginning of this month, July 2017, I was all prepared to get back into my business saddle and begin creating new business once again. A large coliseum business function was being held in Portland, Oregon, and I was planning to attend and actively participate in it. One week before my scheduled leaving for Portland, I was rushed to the doctor and was diagnosed as needing surgery to remove a blockage in my organs. No operating room was available until July 24, 2017. The doctor told me to go home, stay down, and stay put until the operation could be performed. There was to be absolutely no traveling or exhausting movement on my part. Consequently I missed yet another business meeting and function. Nothing can be created or grown to a greater size and capacity if your health will not allow it or if your poor health would endanger you if you ignored the doctor’s orders. As of this writing I am still at home waiting for the big day, now less than one week away.

It truly pained my heart to miss yet another business function. Alone, at home, and in bed, over the week end of the Portland meeting, I almost fell victim to a personal pity-party. I busily thumbed through the Bible and read and read promise after promise as I struggled through the ordeal of missing what I was so looking forward to enjoying in Portland.

And then I turned to the Book of James, Chapter 1, verses 2—4 NKJV:

(2) “My Brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

(3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

(4) But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be
perfect and complete lacking nothing.”

Thanks God, I really needed that!

I received many telephone calls, voice messages, and other communications from people who attended the Portland function all of them wishing me well and offering prayers for a successful surgery. What a real blessing and uplift to my spirit it was to hear from those people who truly cared about me. That is precisely what Encouragers and Uplifters do…they encourage and uplift other people who are hurting and need comfort.

Then in today’s snail-mail comes a beautiful greeting card. A hand written greeting card (an almost lost art in today’s society) sent directly to me from my beautiful friend. The sender was the wife of a fine man whom I have come to deeply love and completely respect. She and my bride were great and loving friends.

If you don’t give up on God, rest assured that He will never give up on you!

A picture of a huge oak tree was on the front page of the card with the rising sun shinning through the branches of the tree. Off to the right side of the tree were the words “The Oak Tree” A Message of Encouragement.

Then followed this wonderful poem out of the heart of the card.

“A mighty wind blew night and day.
It stole the oak tree’s leaves away,
Then snapped its boughs and pulled its bark
Until the oak was tired and stark.
But still the oak tree held its ground
While other trees fell all around.

The weary wind gave up and spoke,
“How can you still be standing, Oak?”
The oak tee said, “I know that you
Can break each branch of mine in two,
Carry every leaf away,
Shake my limbs, and make me sway.
But I have roots stretched deep in the earth,
Growing stronger since my birth.

You’ll never touch them, for you see,
They are the deepest part of me.
Until today, I wasn’t sure
Of just how much I could endure.
But now I’ve found with thanks to you,
I’m stronger than I ever knew.”

Especially now,
Try to remember that your’e stronger
than any problem you encounter
or any disappointment life will bring.

Thinking of you,
Believing in you,
Caring for you,
and always honoring you.

The author, Anna, went on to write this hand written note directly to my heart…it certainly reached into and through it.

“I picked up this card and immediately knew that this poem would be the message of encouragement you need. A “get well” is unnecessary because I know you will be well.

I also know that sometimes the encourager needs encouragement. David and I really missed seeing you at the Family Reunion. There isn’t a day that we don’t think about you. Your influence is felt in everything we do. We love you.” David and Anna

Just as they say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so is an encouraging note, call, or card worth more than you will ever know or imagine. When you open and read such a beautiful card for any occasion, you immediately realize that this kindly gesture took extra time and money out of the giver’s life just to say something nice and uplifting to you and your spirit.

Real living is giving. Giving without condition and without restrictions or limitations. You must always remember God’s promise to you: the more you give, the more you shall receive.

When you think about someone whom you know is hurting. Take time out of your life and call, message, or send them a card with a hand written note— just to them personally.

You just never know what another person is going through and how much they need a little uplifting love shown them through encouraging words.

You were put on this earth to love and serve your God by loving and serving your fellow man. It is always noticed, appreciated, and handsomely rewarded.

 

Peace and Love to All of You…………………….Poppa Bear