Breathe

Giving talks in church is always an interesting thing.
Because you're given a topic...and then you speak on that topic.
Seems simple enough. Share stories, share insights, share thoughts, share quotes.

And it's interesting that each time I give talks....it kinda comes out in a different way.
I don't speak in church often. 
But I do know that I often try to go the metaphor route. Tell a story and then connect the story to the subject in hand and try to have people see the world in a different light. Take the subject in a different way.

Today however, it wasn't quite like that.

You see. My topic today was on Hope.
Which is both an easy and hard subject to deal with. Because there's so much to hope. So many ways you can approach that subject.

Yet.
My mind went a different route than it usually does.
Like. I had potential stories that I could tell...but it just didn't feel right. 
Hope. 
What was hope?
It's encouragement. It's a belief. It's the will to keep going when all seems lost.

And I felt....
More like I should give encouragement.
Give less of a talk. But more of encouragement. 
Focus less on me and my stories and my view points.
But instead, encourage those I would be speaking to. Give them positivity. Give them hope.

My mind went this way because recently, on a different social media platform, I've been doing just that. There have been people popping up on my feed that have been...well...struggling in the midst of darkness really. They're looking for hope, for encouragement.
And I've just....been doing that. Giving them words of hope and encouragement and just trying to give them a point of light. A beacon to look up to. To help them feel better about themselves. To give them hope for tomorrow. That things will get better.

It was with that frame of mind that I wrote the following talk and gave it in church today. 

Breathe.

You got this.

Not every day you face is going to be an easy day.

There will be days where getting out of bed is going to be a major accomplishment. Which congrats guys! You managed to do just that today.

There will be times when things go wrong. Where the day just grows gloomier, darker, colder.

But that doesn’t mean the day has to stay that way.

Just because it’s not going good now, doesn’t mean it’s not going to go good in the future.

Whether that better moment happens in the next five minutes, tomorrow, in a week, or even in five years. Have confidence. It will get better.

The night is always darkest before the dawn. The light will come.

It’s a matter of lifting your head. Squaring your shoulders, and having the confidence that it will be better.

Breathe.

Mistakes will be made. Things will go wrong.

But those things don’t have to define you. You can learn and grow. Pick yourself up and continue onward.

Because it’s only when you stop trying that true failure happens.

You may have to create nine hundred and ninety-nine failed projects before you finally get your lightbulb moment.

You may have to tell yourself seventy times seven times that tomorrow. TOMORROW you will do better. You will start that goal. You will make that change you’ve been wanting to make.

So long as you keep trying, if it’s only in thinking of trying, you’re succeeding. Don’t give up. You got this.

Just remember, things don’t always go according to plan. Celebrate the things that did.

Recognize that while you may have failed in following through in doing exactly what you had wanted to do, that doesn’t mean you failed in following through with helping someone else’s plan to succeed.

A mistake, a delay, a missed opportunity could bring you into the path of another needing your guidance, your experience, or else bring them into your life to teach you a moment of patience, show you a moment of charity, give a learning experience that can build a foundation strong enough for you to stand on later when the whirlwinds blow and the flood waters rise.

Breathe.

You got this.

Things will get better. The struggles of last week are in the past. The future is not yet set in stone.

Start with today, or if today doesn’t work. Start with tomorrow.

Have confidence. You’re doing better than you think you are.

You’re helping more than you think you are. You’re an influence to those around you. And while you may not feel like anyone special right in this moment, you are the light on a hill to someone.

Whether it’s a flickering flame, or a blazing bonfire. There are those around you who look up to you. Depend on you. And think that you’re amazing.

Already, you’ve inspired a lot of people to change, to become more than they already are.

Whether it was that freshman that you smiled to on your way to class,

that customer who you took an extra twenty minutes of your time to help,

that half second where you liked a facebook post made by a friend,

that roommate that you helped by doing the dishes,

or that stranger on the street that you complimented.

Your influence is seen and felt by many. More than you can ever realize.

Don’t give up.

You got this.

Breathe.

It will all work out in the end. It’s not going to be easy. Unfortunately life isn’t always going to be you frolloicking in the meadows picking wildflowers.

But that doesn’t mean that the weeds and the cloudy days are the only things you should focus on. You can see the blue sky, the silver lining, the one blooming rose in a bush full of thorns.

You still have your entire life. Remember that some things take time. Just because it’s not working out in your timing doesn’t mean it won’t all work out in the end. Because it will work out.

Often in ways that you never could have imagined or expected.

So remember to breathe. Hold your head up. Square your shoulders.

Because you got this.

It seems like such a simple thing.

But that’s what Hope is.

It’s that flickering flame in the middle of a storm.

It’s whispering to yourself that ‘tomorrow I’ll do better’ as you curl up under the covers.

It’s not giving up the fight when all seems to be lost.

Hope can be such an easy thing to give to another.

An encouraging word.

A smile.

A small act of kindness.

Often we worry.

Worry that it’s not enough.

That we’re being a bother.

That saying something won’t help.

But it can.

Because hope is often the strongest when the odds are the greatest.

It’s easy to feel confidence when things are going well. It’s easy to feel great when all is going according to plan.

Yet it’s in the trials of life that hope is found. It’s found in the sacrifices made, it’s found in the stubborn determination that you will not give up.

It’s found when you keep the faith, fight the good fight.

Have courage. Be Kind.

Stay Calm. Carry on.

Hope is the light on a hill. It’s that flame that cannot be hidden.

Hope is easy to spark. Because it almost never goes out.

It only needs a single moment, a single smile, a single word, to flare back up.

To burn brightly.

To spur you on.

The main thing is reach for it. To share it.

Because where hope is found, miracles can happen.

So Breathe.

You got this.

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi