I believe in you?

I believe in you ?. Have you ever experienced a real low spot in your life and wondered how you were going to get back on your feet again? Or, how you’re going to feel happiness or joy again?  Maybe you’ve wondered what it might take for you to be able to experience the feeling of self-respect again.

Throughout my life…

I’ve found that a significant number of people, myself included, have phases in their life where a variation of those types of thoughts and feelings descend on them like a cloud.  Many people find one way or another to push the feelings down,  and many others are fortunate enough to seek help, which allows them to recover, and they go on to live a reasonably happy life.

In recent times I’ve been thinking about an interaction I had with someone about thirty years ago.   It was a time in my life when I was extremely unwell, and I’d almost given up all hope of ever recovering.  I’d been in the hospital for several weeks, and one evening two people came to visit me.  One person was a friend of mine, and the other person was their friend.  Even in my unwell state, I sensed that the friend’s friend had just come to support their friend.  As I was in a lonely and desolate place emotionally, I welcomed and appreciated their visit and their company.

We talked about old times and for a while, I almost felt ‘normal’ again…whatever ‘normal’ was meant to be!

After an hour or so my visitors were getting ready to say goodbye to me, but just before they left, the friend of my friend reached into the pocket of their jacket.  They then took my hands and gave me a small laminated card with a verse on it.

All these years later…

I can still remember the way that I felt when I read what was written on that card.  I looked at my friend’s friend with tears in my eyes, and I thanked them for their kindness towards me.

This one experience proved to me that even when we don’t know someone, a glimmer of hope that’s given with loving-kindness can make such a positive impact on a person’s life.   A gesture like this one can help people to give life another try.

When the intention is to mirror the goodness that we can see in another, it can help the other person to see that little spark of light and that can be enough to encourage them to invest in life again.

This is the verse by Bruce B Wilmer that was on that small laminated card:

I Believe in You

The challenges you now confront
In all you’re going through
Help me see the many ways
That I believe in you.

It’s hard for me to realise
The things that you must face
And though I try I can’t completely step into your place.

But something in my knowledge
Of the depth and soul of you
Gives to every real concern
An optimistic hue.

For when you must respond to life
With pure determination
Your answer to the challenge
Is a source of inspiration.

And through each day’s uncertainty
The future oft obscures,
My hope for you is strong and my belief in you endures.

The potential impact of presence and kindness…

This particular experience helped me to understand the importance of never underestimating a chance meeting or my presence in someone else’s life, and to always try to make the best use of opportunities to extend kindness.

Thirty years later, I can see in my mind’s eye the face of my friend’s friend, and my heart still holds the imprint of their kindness towards me.  And, lest I forget, I always carry that same small laminated card with that verse in my purse.

Why? Because it’s a constant reminder to me to be positive and kindhearted towards other people, and it helps me to remember the importance of being kind to people whose journey I know little or nothing about.