After falling yet again, I looked up dejectedly at the coach in the boat, and said “I’m going to take a break, and try again after lunch”. To which my brother, hung his he head over the side of the boat and said, “why did you even bother coming out if you are not going to get up!”
“Okay, I’ll try one more time”, I muttered out of sheer exhaustion. Much to my amazement (and delight), the very next attempt I was up on my feet soaring along on top of the water.
My brother got me to do many athletic things in my life that I thought were impossible, periodically with tender support, but most often with blunt declarations ‘because he believed I had it in me, and what was the delay with my performance’ .
Encouragement comes in many forms, perhaps not in the form we had hoped for or thought would be most helpful, but it is interesting how ‘we get what we need’ if we are willing to listen.
