"Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing."
-1 Thessalonians 5:11
If you've followed this blog or know me personally, you know that I love playing sports. When I was in the 6th grade, I joined my youth group's softball team. None of us had any experience playing either softball or baseball, so our team was very bad. When we entered the softball tournament, we did very bad and I believe we may have lost every single game. Of course we got better as the years went on, but it took a long time for us to start looking like an actual team.
Throughout my years playing softball, I noticed a couple things. Even in the first year, when we did horribly, there were many people who came to cheer for us. Every time someone would make a simple play, like get on first base, catch a pop fly, or even get a walk, people would cheer. I always remembered walking up to the plate and hearing people encourage me. I would hear things like "let's go Andrew", "keep your eye on the ball", "you got this", "keep it low", etc.
I am a pretty stoic person, so as I walked up I never smiled or showed any sign of appreciation for the people cheering for me. Actually, I don't think anyone on our team did, because that would mean showing the other team that we weren't disciplined. The people may have thought that their cheering was useless, because nobody really showed any sign of appreciation while on the plate. However, they cheered constantly for every single person who walked up to plate.
Encouragement is something that many people undervalue. Although I did not show any outward signs, I did appreciate people's encouragement. Knowing that there were people who wanted me to do well, people who took time out of their day to come watch and cheer for me, was very encouraging. It made me want to play well and win the tournament. Eventually we did, but it took us a couple of years for everyone to develop their skills and get better.
Another thing I learned while playing softball is the value of teamwork. Every person on the team has a different responsibility, each of which must be carried out. Having a couple of good people is not enough to do well in softball. Even if there are some people on your team who can field well and bat well, you have to keep in mind that everyone has to field and bat. If the ball is hit to someone who is not a good fielder and they lose the ball, the whole team suffers. If a bad hitter is at the plate and strikes out, it affects the entire team.
In many situations, co-working is crucial. People may think that they have no real value in a group, but everyone has to do their part. If one part suffers, the whole body suffers along with it. A person should not look down on another person, because everyone is important. So what is the best way to build up a team? I gave away the answer before- encouragement. People do better when they are being encouraged, not when they are being looked down upon. Those are some of the things I learned while playing years of softball at my church.
-Smart
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