Word of Encouragement

This week’s encouragement highlights the fact that little things can make a big difference when it comes to bringing some joy and happiness into the world.

I mention this because recently I saw a YouTube video that reminded me of my experiences with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. While I had heard of this great organization, I really had never gotten a firsthand look at the impact they have had – not just for the recipients of the wish, but for all their family members and friends as well.

Prior to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, one of the more famous “little things can make a big difference” stories involved the legendary Babe Ruth and eleven year-old Johnny Sylvester. Johnny was tossed from a horse during the summer of 1926 and suffered from inflammation near his brain. As he was resting in bed at his home in Essex Falls, Johnny said that the only thing that could cheer him up would be a baseball from the World Series between the Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals.

After his father reached out to a well-connected friend, both the Cardinals and Yankees shipped signed balls to Johnny’s dad. On one of those balls, Babe Ruth scrawled “I’ll knock a homer for you.” In Game 4 of the series, the Babe hit not one but three home runs.

On October 11, 1926 the Babe visited Johnny at his home and the Daily News newspaper ran a front-page photo with the Babe and Johnny shaking hands, and the headline read: “'Dr.' Babe Ruth at Bedside.” Johnny ultimately became a Navy submarine commander and had a successful business career but according to his son, even though he rarely told his famous story, his family knew how much that event had meant to him.

I was thinking about this story after I watched a video involving the Brazilian soccer player, Neymar and his visit to the hospital to meet with a boy who is battling cancer. During the visit, the boy asked Neymar if he could do a dance on the field if he scored a goal in his next game. You are going to love this thirty-eight second video and the moment the boy demonstrates the dance he wants Neymar to do.

Sure enough, in the next game, Neymar scored the goal and then he and a couple of his teammates proceeded to do the dance just as the boy had choreographed it. What makes this special is watching the boy’s reaction as they were doing their dance. I don’t know about you, but for me, now more than ever, I enjoy seeing people who are happy and euphoric. And folks, this boy is seriously euphoric.

The moments that the recipients experience the realization of “the wish” are a big deal, but I also learned something else from groups like Make-A-Wish or the YWAM Homes of Hope program that our family has been involved with for over twenty years: It can truly be better to give rather than to receive. Personally, when we turn over the keys to a home that we have built for a family in Mexico, it is a life-changing experience for both the families that are receiving the house and the families that have built the house.

When John F. Kennedy uttered those famous words in his inauguration speech, “Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country, ” he underscored the need for us to have a “contributor” mindset. Could it be that this “contributor” mindset is also important in today’s environment? It may not be something as significant as hitting a home run, scoring a goal, or fulfilling someone’s wish. But I do know that when someone blesses me with a kind word or a kind deed, they are making my world a bit better and helping me understand that I can make someone else’s world a bit better.

Perhaps this is why in the Book of Proverbs we are reminded that “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” So let’s take the opportunity to refresh others and to be refreshed in the process.