I've been struck lately at how often we need a confidence boost. I have three examples....
1) Matthew finally learned to walk about three weeks ago!!! We all knew that he was able to walk, he just chose not to. When he made the decision to attempt to go for it, he succeeded right away. There wasn't much time of a few steps them fall, it was mostly, get up, walk til we fall down then do it all over again. He just needed some practice and confidence and he was gone.
2) Anna learned to ride her bike by herself. Her training wheels have been off for quite some time, but she would need someone next to her. She was scared of what would happen if she didn't have someone there. When she realized she didn't need us right there, she would ride a few feet then crash into the grass. Needless to say, I don't have the patience to put up with that and quickly she would go the whole block by herself. She figured out how to stop and go by herself and enjoys the independence. Anna and I were talking about her new abilities and Matthew being able to walk and her comment to me was "All I needed was a little confidence Mom. Just like all Matthew needed was confidence so he could walk". What a little philosopher I have.
3) Every child but one little girl has kicked the ball in a soccer game. She will see the ball coming toward her and step aside so it can go past. Last game I asked her if she would kick the ball and her reply was "NO!". At practice on Monday when we were scrimmaging, I switched her from playing defence to being a striker. She looked at me horrified and I told her I needed her to go kick the ball towards the goal. She said she couldn't do that. I asked why not and she replied that she didn't think she was able to kick the ball. As soon as I told her that I knew she was able to and that I had the confidence she could her face lit up. She ran up there....sad to say she wasn't able to kick the ball as shortly after practice was over. However, it was clear that she doesn't think she can do it and just needs the encouragement.
Even though these examples are of kids needing the confidence, I know that there are times when a kind word of encouragment is what I need. I know that we all need a little confidence sometimes. I hope that I have provided a kind word to someone when they needed the ump to keep going and I hope in the future I can remember to give encouragement.
