Back in Black

I checked my 401K account yesterday and got a pleasant surprise. According to my account statement, I am back in the black......but just a little.


The last time I checked it, I was in the red. Severely in the red.
"How could this be?" I wondered. Am I the new Warren Buffet? Did I somehow pick some winners that overnight propelled my retirement fund back to where it was before this current financial crisis hit? No, of course not. I looked again at the return percentage. "Oh", I realized, "It's my year-to-date return". Which as of yesterday was only a few days.
But still, it was an encouragement to see this, even if it's not really a complete or accurate representation. I have lost a lot from my retirement. A whole lot. I didn't ignore reality, but I got a real boost from seeing that positive number. The encouragement I felt was great.


Way back a long time ago when I was in school, I used to work for Ukrops (a local grocery store chain.) I didn't work at a store. I worked at their central bakery (great experience.... surprised I don't weigh a lot more than I do because of that experience). I could have bagged groceries, but the idea of not having to deal with customers appealed more to me. (Plus, it paid a dollar more an hour.) During my time there, I got to know this guy who worked on the oven room. His name was Paul and his primary job was pastoring a small church somewhere in the Richmond area. It was a very small church, so he worked nights to make ends meet. A great guy. The one thing I remember about Paul was that he was an encourager. He used to always say, "Everyone needs encouragement from time to time." When walking through the facility, he made sure to tell folks what a great job they were doing. He wasn't the boss. He was just some guy. But you could tell what he said about others and their work were genuine. When he came by on his way to the break room and told you your work looked great, you could tell he meant it. It seemed kind of silly to me at the time (I was a teenager) but now I look back and realize that little bit of encouragement was always uplifting no matter what my situation was, or how I was feeling. It was such a little thing but it had a big impact on everyone who worked there.

My son Colin, even though he is two (about to turn three) really responds to encouragement. Sometimes I think he is easily discouraged. He seems to give up easily when something like putting on a shirt or taking off his shoes becomes even slightly difficult. "It's too hard. You do it.", he cries. Or he'll yell, "I can't do it". Lately I haven't been helping him as much with this type of thing. Instead, I have been encouraging him and telling him he can do it. Then when he does, I'm quick to tell him how proud I am of him. I've actually taken to telling him I'm proud of him for all sorts of things he is doing. I can tell it has an effect on him. It makes him smile and I think it helps him to believe he can tackle all sorts of stuff without giving up easily.

My friends Julie and Barry are encouragers as well. Like everyone else, they have a lot to be thankful for, but they also have their fair share of problems. But no matter what, they always seem to have a positive attitude and encourage others to look at the good side of every situation. They're awesome to be around and no matter what mood I'm in when I see them, I'm always uplifted after we talk. It's not that they try and help me solve my problems or ignore reality, but they always take time to actually listen, and then say something to put me in a more positive frame of mind.

My 401K is down, but I saw a little positive movement and it had a big impact. I was encouraged. I like being encouraged. We all do. Perhaps over the next week you could take a moment and encourage someone. In the tough times we are going through right now we can certainly all use it. Tell someone you are proud of them. Tell someone what an awesome job they do in their work. Tell someone you appreciate what they do and how it affects you. A little bit of encouragement goes a long way and you'll see it makes a difference. I promise.