Singing, Maui Monk, And The Superpower of Encouragement

What if your superpower was to be able to turn around somebody else's day? And in some cases, turn around their life. Let's talk about that. Welcome to Hope Blvd. I'm Geri Carlson. I am your host, and this is episode number 19. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you very much. I am happy to have you here, and thanks for tuning in. For those of you who keep tuning back in, um, thank you for that. I love hearing from you. I love the connection, and it is a blessing to me, to be completely honest. So I appreciate y'all being here. And for those who this may be your first time here, I welcome you with open arms. Thank you for checking us out, and I hope that you'll be returning. All right. I have so much that I want to talk about. Um a few different things, but yet they seem to all have sort of a common denominator, basically being little stories from my life, but one of them is a continuation from last week, at least just a little part of it. So um, I want to be able to talk to you about that. And yeah, I've got a lot to say, and so I am going to just get on it. So, all right, let's get started. For those of you who listened to episode number 18 last week, you'll remember me talking about, and I don't want to give it all away for those who haven't heard it yet and they want to go back and hear it. Um, but it's uh something that happened to me and uh I ended up falling, and and it was, you know, not a fun situation, that's for sure. And one of the things that I thought about when I was stuck on that hardwood floor was about how I just wanted to get up, I wanted to feel better, and I wanted to get rid of this fever that I had at the time. But mostly I just wanted to sing. I wanted to sing. I mean, granted, I wasn't in the mood to sing at the moment, but I was thinking about how just hours before how I was singing. And I mean, so let me explain that. For those of you who know me, you know that I love to sing. And and for those of you who don't know me, well, I love to sing. So that's a big part of it. But I thought about when I had fallen and I was hurt and I was uncomfortable. I thought about how that moment was not going to last forever. I knew that much. I knew I wasn't gonna stay on the floor for years to come. I knew that it was going to come to an end. But man, I wanted that to end soon, you know. It was a it was a hard thing. So I wanted to get through that trial and move on. And one of the things I wanted to move on to, I was thinking about things that just hours before, how life was just so different. How I just wanted to do the things I was doing earlier. It just so happens lately. I have been singing from morning to night. And friends, I hadn't done that in a very long time. I mean years. Not consistently anyway, but a few weeks ago, some sweet friends invited us over for dinner, and we ended up having to sing along in the studio of our friend Mike, who plays the mandolin and guitar. He is a huge fan of John Prime, sort of like I'm a huge fan of Dolly Parton. So Mike plays a lot of John Prine music quite beautifully, I might add. I mean, really soulful, and I love it. And while we were enjoying him singing, he encouraged me to sing something as well. Well, after some strong encouragement from him and his wife, Cyndi, I reluctantly agreed. I couldn't believe that they convinced me to sing in front of them. I mean, my vocal chords are so rusty, y'all. I hadn't sung in years. Oh, what was I thinking? But I did it. So I asked if Mike could play a certain country song from the app on his iPad, which he did, and I sang. And they were incredibly gracious and complimentary, and I sang a couple of more songs, and I remembered how much I used to sing and how much it meant to me. Well, Mike and Cyndi, I haven't shut up since. I mean, just ask my neighbors, pretty sure they could probably hear me. Music has always been a way for me to express my emotions like nothing else I know. And that night is one of my favorite memories of the year. I will never forget it. And I'm grateful to our friends, not just because we had a great sing-along, but because they're such beautiful humans, you know. Mike and Cyndi, a big shout out to you guys. I love you both. You know, friends, it's one of those things where to someone else, maybe they're thinking it's a small act of kindness, or maybe they're not even thinking it's a an act of kindness at all. But what happened that night triggered something in me. And sometimes we don't realize what the smallest thing, the smallest gesture on our part can do for someone else. Just a smile at the grocery store, or you know, I mean, go and visit someone in a nursing home and pick up their hand and rub the back of their hand, and you know, that that does something for them. Or just be nice to your spouse. You know, I mean, any little thing. So I really want to take a moment to just encourage you that if you have someone on your mind that you're thinking about right now, maybe you're supposed to say something or do something kind, or just show them some grace. I don't know. But I encourage you to pray about that. Ask God what it is that He's laying on your heart about that person, and yeah, I encourage you to act on it. Another really lovely thing happened last week, and I had shared with my friend Jill, I've mentioned Jill before. So I have mentioned to Jill, I know she's hating this right now, but I mentioned to her that when we were on a plane ride a few weeks ago, that the flight attendants passed out something called Maui Monk. Have any of you heard of this? I mean, this seriously, I mean, I'm this is uh you're gonna think I'm kidding about all this, but I'm not. I have never had Maui monk. So this little snack, I dig into it. I was really hungry on the plane, and I said to the flight attendant when she came back around, I said, Oh my goodness, this stuff is so good. And she said, Yeah, it is. And I said, Oh, I hope I can find it. I'm gonna try to find it. And she said, Well, they sell it at Costco. I said, Oh, okay, well, thanks for letting me know. So I was sharing with Jill last week, hey, you are the woman about all things. You know so much about so many things. Have you ever heard of Maui Monk? And she said, I no, I don't think I have. And I told her how when I talked to the stewardess, or can we say stewardess anymore? Is a flight attendant? Flight attendant. So I when I was speaking to the flight attendant and told her how much I really like the snack, she came back around and she handed me like five little bags of this Maui monk and said, Here, enjoy. And I was like, Are you kidding me? So I brought some home and I thought I've got to order some of this. So I was telling Jill how I loved this stuff and I've got to find it. And I told her how the flight attendant said it was at Costco. And Jill said, Well, are you a member at Costco? And I said, No, not yet, but this might be a good reason to be. I mean, I really I know I'm going too far in the snack thing, but um, so of course, so what does Jill do? She sends me this gigantic bag of Maui monk. I didn't even know that they made such a big bag of it. It's huge. And I have been eating that every single day ever since and enjoying it. So just another act of kindness. My word, my word, how sweet, you know. Thank you, Jill. I just love you so much. There's so many things that, you know, if we really stop and think about it, and I want to challenge you on that, to stop and think of the last time somebody did something kind for you, or just smiled, or I mean, maybe they held the door open at the store. It doesn't have to be huge, but think about it. And then I want to encourage you to keep on thinking and put your try to train your mindset to go there, to notice those acts of kindness, and not only to notice the acts of kindness that are coming your way, but also to remember our own acts of kindness. What are we doing for others? So I just want to encourage you in that. I have had some real acts of kindness come my way lately, and I just I love it. I mean, who doesn't, right? But what a difference it can make in somebody's life. Maybe it's a small thing, maybe it's not a small thing, but sometimes the littlest thing can make an impact on somebody's life. So I wanted to share those things with you. I'm a counselor and a master life coach. If this is a rough chapter in your life and you're interested in working with me, I can help you find ways to move forward. Just go to my website at hopeblvd.org and request a free 15-minute call. There's more info on the website, and I'll leave a link in the show notes. My faith take today comes from 1 Thessalonians 5.11. Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. It's a small little verse in this whole Bible, but it is powerful. And it's one that I would encourage you to put to memory. It's something that I know it has helped me to remember, be encouraging, be encouraging, you know, maybe when I don't feel like it. Sometimes we're not feeling very generous and we don't want to encourage, but sometimes I think it's really important to tap into that and remember to encourage one another and build each other up because some of these small things that we might not even give another thought to, some compliment, and I mean a really genuine, sincere compliment, something that something that is really meaningful, something that you notice. I can compliment someone on their blouse, or I can say that some of these nails look lovely, or even just to say thank you when a gentleman opens the door. You know, there might be a a small thing that I might think, I don't really need to say that. It's not important. And you don't know what it is that's going to turn their day around. Someone might be having a horrible day, and just one small word of something that maybe you thought about not even saying in the first place could be just the thing to turn their mood around, to turn their day around. And don't underestimate that. Don't underestimate the power of encouragement. We all need it. And I really want to take to heart this 1 Thessalonians 5.11. And you know, I know it's something that I need to remember. I remember thinking recently that it would be really nice if Rob and I could have a little normalcy in our life. Although, honestly, we don't know what normal is. Um, but it would be really great for things to settle down in our life. That would be that'd be great. But and I had to remember that there's so many things to be grateful for. Several weeks ago, my mom came home from the hospital and she's doing pretty well, actually. She's strong, she's 88 years old, and she's a tough cookie. She still works circles around me, I'll tell you. So we're really grateful to see her doing better. She would like to be feeling stronger and feeling, you know, a little better, but she's coming along really, really well. But on another note, we do have a loved one who is terminal. And unfortunately, it's very sad, it's very hard to watch her suffer, and she is so suffering. So we would covet your prayers, friends, on her behalf. This is Rob's sister Ellen, and she needs prayer, and we'd so appreciate that. Our prayer is that he and her suffering, so either an instant miracle or to call her home. And on another note, um, something to be really grateful for is the fact that we are expecting our fifth grandchild any day now. So we're really excited about that. Really excited. There'll be five grandchildren plus two little girls that came into the fold, and we are loving all these kids, and there is so much anticipation and excitement about this new baby. And I'll share more when that little cutie patootie is born. Okay. Thank you so much for listening, friends. If this episode is helpful or encouraging in any way, please share it. If you're not already on my email list, you can subscribe at hopeblvd.org. That's hopeblvd.org, and I'll send you my newsletter. It's a brief three-minute read, and it's always an uplifting and encouraging message, and I'd love to connect with you. In the meantime, make it a great day for you and someone else. And remember, friends, there is always hope. Always. Bye for now.