I   The old ‘Adage'... What the World Needs Now….every minute, hour, day, week, month, year:

LOVE – “Love is the one ingredient (in life) of which our World never tires and of which there is never an abundance of. The World will never outgrow its need for Love”…..say this to your family, friend’s, loved-ones…say to people you don’t even know…when someone looks sad in the elevators and halls/corridors of your Hospital – give a gracious smile and a happy hello, ‘How’s your day…I hope you have an enriched day”

HOPE – Hope is an ANGEL – Mattie Anderson, age 14.

ENCOURAGEMENT – Lift up one-another – To give support – the Hope we give to others, yes – ourselves! Giving other’s confidence in the way they look, talk, act, the way they do their job --- WOW, honey – the yard sure looks great.  The house is so clean, smells like a beautiful garden.  Your Children, your son and his team lost a baseball game….Wow, what a great game you played, you are doing so well…but we lost, not you did not – your just one step closer to winning

“Do you hear it, listen carefully – Now do you hear it, No, Okay, close your eyes…..listen to your heart, what does your heart say…I hope, unmistakingly,  we hear – coming through loud and clear: “I want to loved”, wait – listen – there’s more; Listen closer: your heart says, “And I want to be Loved”.,

Two of man’s basic desires. WE are shaped by those who love us or refuse to love us, and by those whom we love or we refuse to love. I believe, today – more than ever before – the world cries for genuine love, love which heals, unites, and encourages. Dr. Karl Menninger, a renowned American psychiatrist, found that people who able to give and receive love recover more quickly from their illnesses. In sharp contrast, individuals who lack love develop what we call –Personality Scars- and develop illness more quickly. Love is truly essential to our emotional, physical, mental, and social well being.

I one of the best selling books, GAMES PEOPLE PLAY, the author – Dr. Eric Berne discussed the tremendous human need for encouragement, either by word or by touch, to keep their life healthy….to keep them alive, eager, and confident. Many examples in the book highlight ‘the variety of games people play/and devise…effect our entire personal feelings about ourselves, emotional well-being, and outlook on life.

Share the “severe impact” on a child who feels unwanted: It’s a well known fact that children who receive an inadequate amount of love and attention from their parents grow up to be emotionally, mentally, and spiritually stunned as adults.

Almost 50 times in a book that I’ve read speaks about love. It is something that should be inescapable directives to ourselves to our children, loved-ones, and friends. It touches us in all of our relationships and effects us in each of the many roles we play – as parents, spouses, children, friends, and everyone in the world. Love should also be defined in the way we respond to people we do not really care for….Not an easy thing to do….we are human – but it can be done…we wish others to Love – so we are to love our Neighbor…one book, the number one Best Seller of all time, ‘Love your neighbor as your brother…just do it – begin today – don’t wait until tomorrow, because tomorrow may never come.  AM I RIGHT…we do not have a crystal ball…this may be my last day to ever speak to you, smile at you, give you a handshake, a pat-on-the-back, a kind Nod of my head.

REMEMBER…how do you wish others to remember you…today, it may be last chance in how they remember you….What will it BE  !!!!!

REMEMBER…love demands action – you must take the next step. WE must put ourselves in situations where we can show others love through us…reach out to the neighbor next door.  At the grocery store I see elderly people reaching for the top self for a can good…stop and help. Driving home on my street the trash containers have blown over, the lady down the road can no longer weed eat/trim her yard…can I demonstrate love.  I have not spoken to a friend in months, even years, DO I say – just let them know I’m thinking about them – or do I pickup the phone and make a call.

My mother would say, Two are better than one, for I they fall, one will lift up their companion. But woe to the one who is alone when he falls, for he/she has no one to help him/her up.

We need each other for encouragement. You know what it is like when people focus their attention on you? Focused attention lets you know that people really care. It let’s you know they’re not concerned about anything or anyone else at that moment. They are there just for you…HOW DOES THIS MAKE YOU FELL…I agree without even hearing you utter one word. Focused attention feels good and it’s so encouraging.

Zig Ziglar said: “He Climbs highest who helps another up”. If I sense someone generally cares about me, that person’s words can be very powerful…like my brother Wayne…..telling me to have the courage and faith to begin my own company…..you will be taken care of, believe you can do it, know you well do it – talk it out, write it out, then go do it…Six Weeks ago I did this.

An old Proverb says, “Anxious hearts are very heavy but a word of encouragement does wonders”. Have you been weighted down by anxiety until someone came along and spoke a kind word of encouragement to you…I’ll ask you to remember how you felt – then transfer that feeling into action by “Paying in forward to someone else”.

Chuck Swindol said, “How many people stop, because so few say , GO”!

 II   Let’s talk about “COURAGE”

Someone once wrote” “Sow a thought, reap an act; Sow an Act, reap a habit; Sow a habit, reap your character; Sow your character, reap your destiny.”

Standing Tall when tested takes courage- constant, relentless, never-give-up courage! You can be sure that the old “Self” will fight for arousal and satisfaction. All it takes is a little rationalization – just a little bit. Just look the other way – Just shrug it off. Don’t sweat it – and long before you have “Rattlesnake” in your sleeping bag – let someone rattle your mental & emotional cage …... do not let others take control of your life, today or any day!~

First: Standing tall starts with the way we think. It has to do the “Mind – The Ole Brain”. As my Mother would say, being a person of inner strength is really a mental factor. It surly has to do with the way we think about ourselves and others. Then it  grows, “flowers & blossoms”, about the way we think about our family, our marriage, the way we think about dating, the way we perceive, or think, about the forces around us that is designed to bring us down to a lower way of thinking – to destroy us –

Second: Standing Tall calls for strong discipline. That has to do will your inner WILL – don’t let your past be a Stronghold for your future. Discipline your eyes, your ears, hands and feet. Keeping moral tabs on ourselves, refusing to let down our standards. People, you and me, of strength know how to turn their thinking into action – even when our thoughts and feelings don’t agree.

Third:   Standing tall my limit your choice of personal friends. This surly has to do with relationships. What appears harmless can prove to be dangerous. Perhaps this is an important as the other two factors in combination - - Cultivating wrong friendships and you may be a goner. This is why, while growing up – I was warned not to be deceived regarding the danger, “Pitfalls”, of wrong associations. Without realizing this, we can/could be playing with fire.**

If you sow the Wind, and, for certain, you reap the whirlwind. Eagles are very strong birds, but when the wind velocity (like Wednesday) gets fierce enough, it takes an enormous amount of strength for the Eagle to survive. Only the right mindset of “Courage”, the ultra-powerful, can make it through the whirlwind.

 III.         In order to have HOPE, we have to have an element of “OPTIMISM” in our lives.

First: Let’s begin with a “VISION” – Visualize your day in the morning; Is it going to be “Blue” – just because it’s raining outside; This is not what you wanted. You drive to work wishing to be on time – and an accident happened. WE think why me…I’ve got a deadline to meet, a meeting to attend. So we started our day based upon defeat, overwhelming odds going against us….we start focusing on the trouble ahead – let’s call this “the Blue’s”…we compare the odds against us.

So the result is potentially predictable….this is a day of defeat. So, what is the real challenge. If too many days are like this do your just surrender, become defeated – I say No!~   When your measure your days, weeks, months ahead - - the future - - Measure it on facts and figures. You’d like not to surrender, am I correct! You’d like to be courageous, wouldn’t you? Let me say, there is a way through, but you’ll need one essential quality – A Vision of Optimism. I ask you to ‘Perceive a Power of  FAVOR”….Focus of the Favor of overcoming all Obstacles that you face. When we have a Vision, a positive Vision, it affects our attitude. Your attitude is “Optimistic vs. Pessimistic”.  Your attitude stays positive rather than negative. Not foolishly positive, as in a fantasy, but you read into your circumstances – so when a situation comes that cuts the “rug-out-from-under-you”, you don’t throw your hands up in the air, panic, and then give up. Instead, “I say, Lord – this is you moments. This is where you desire me to be…I ask you to lift me up and I’ll allow you to take charge…we are in this Together…Like ‘Footprints In the Sand” … you decided to carry me when I was ready to give up”.

Nothing is better than having a belief – that you are not alone: having confidence in others around you who are in, or have had, similar battles; and most certainly having confidence in yourself, by the Favor of Grace given to you. Refusing to give into the temptation, the cynicism, and the doubt…don’t be defeated. Not allowing yourself to become a jaded individual. Positive “Belief” in oneself is terribly important.

Determination – the old adage I love - Is hanging tough when the going gets rough…..as I share with my sisters children that I helped to raise, after my sister, Kathi, passed-away in 1991- Believe me, no one has a magic wand to waive “Though I sometimes wish I had”, to wave over your future and say, “all of a sudden –right now- everything is going to fall into place.

VISION, again, requires determination, a constant focus that you will receive “Favor” of the person watching over you and smiling – prompting you with live, hope, encouragement, and Optimism. Even in a world of negativity – with hostile and sometimes demeaning words/actions toward you – Even a world where the majority says, “We can’t, you can not excel in your home life, in your work environment, you can’t buy that new care, you can’t move from that apartment –to- a home. Believe me, You can Find “Favor” when you ask for it – “If you believe it, you will become it”

I ask you to w/in the bowels-of-your-stomach, from you inner-being, See yourself with the “Eyes of Faith and Optimism”.   Do not settle for mediocrity – to allow yourself to become limited to your way of thinking – don’t think of yourself as average,  not good enough or inferior – Rise above this way of thinking - - “I call this stinking-thinking”.  You are not average – you are unique in every way – look around you: does anyone like you, talk like you…no – so get up - - smile, rejoice in yourself. You can attain anything you set your mind to do.

THE JAIL - Give example of the thoughts of incarcerated men…low self esteem, no hope, DOWN & OUT ><+>

So get back in the game…play it with great enthusiasm.  +++