A Word of Encouragement

I’m very drawn to the good news stories in my news feed at the moment, and not alone in that I imagine! With so much bad news so constantly in our view, I seek out the good news stories as signposts of hope, the rays of sunshine in the otherwise grey days.

Yesterday I read about how a RSPCA vet in Brisbane successfully completed life-saving surgery on a tiny tree frog. The frog was less than 2cm long and could sit comfortably on the tip of the vet’s finger. The surgery took skill and precision and no doubt the steadiest of hands! But more than that, to help this tiny frog it took someone to notice. It took someone to take some time to see, to have eyes for the easily overlooked, and someone who having seen, would do what they could to help. Afterall, it was that someone noticed this tiny frog in trouble that it came to be brought to the vet in the first place.

We are living in a difficult and strange time in our world. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the big things over which we have no control and to be stuck in worry about how long they might last. But there is another way – we can take this time to grow as people who notice, people who take time to see what we usually rush past, people who lower our eyes to see the small things. It’s only by doing this that we will be able to count our blessings, taking notice of the good gifts in life we are given every day. It’s only by doing this that we’ll notice that someone who needs some special encouragement. It’s only by focusing our vision that we’ll see the hard work of those who are helping us in these times and so show our gratitude.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the big things beyond our reach. But let’s not let those things blind us to the things we can reach! We need to keep practising lowering our vision to see and take notice of the places, the people, the things God has put in our reach today. It’s these places which have been given to us that might be a ray of blessing in these grey days. So, let’s be growing as people who see them, like the person who is taking enough notice of their surrounds to spot the tiny tree frog in distress! 

Rev Karen Reid

School Chaplain