We are binary. We, as in people across the world, fall into 2 categories: 0 or 1. We are either a no or a yes. Off or On. Negative or Positive. Good or bad. Encourager or discourager. Life is a line of binary code that strings along countless numbers until the sum of the line equals us. This is me: 01000010 01110010 01101001 01100001 01101110. Well it's not me, but it is my name. I am pretty sure I would be a lot more numbers than that.
What sets many humans apart is that we can see our 1s and 0s. Most of the time that is. Some people think they are 1s but in reality they are a 0. Not a 0 as in a loser or nothing, nothing with any kind of bad connotation to it. But they think they are a 1, let's say this 1 is an encouragement. Some people think they sit safely in the 1 where everyone loves them, and they are great. They can make anyone belong. But from the outside, an observer can see that their cherished 1 is in fact a 0. They are a discourager.
There are many encouragers that you will meet along the way, but sadly there will be just as many, and sometimes more discouragers in your life. It could be your boss, it could be a friend it could even be a loved one. I like to think of myself as a encourager, as a 1, and I might do a very good job now and then and I do try. But not always do I succeed. I might point out something that does discourage you, but if I do, it is because I want to help build you up in the long run. Sometimes a breakdown here and there means more debris to scavenge to build higher and stronger later. But even as I do try, I am open to possibly being a discourager, a 0.
But sometimes people do not even realize that they are a 0 and what is worse is when they do not really even care if they are a 1. These people can be friendly to your face, but always have a comment about something, a small cut to your life that hurts less than a prick, but bleeds like an artery was severed. One person I know, though always friendly with me, often does and says stuff that really gets some discouraged with everything. They will ask a question about something to a person who wasn't around at the time about something, knowing full well that I was the only one there or allow one person to make shrewd joke but then say I cannot make the same ones. And they do it several times a week.
And this gets me greatly discouraged. I love going there. I enjoy doing what it is I do there, yet now I feel like I do not want to go anymore, I should decide to do something different all together and just leave. We are friends, but I do not feel that they encourage or strengthen the group as a whole. And this discouragement gets me down. I feel depressed and sometimes even as far as feeling I am a failure in the whole life department. Honestly it is a crushing feeling. And I am not sure they even know they are doing it.
Discouragement will bring people down greatly. Depression is also binary, either you feel fine or you feel broken. In depression, the 0 is feeling fine. The depression is "off" so to speak and when a discourager comes around, that 0 can quickly become a 1. When that happens a whole slew of 1s and 0s start clicking on and off. Happiness becomes a 0, it is shut off and sadness is clicked to a 1. Our feelings become logic gates and a whole if this than that line goes through our being changing who we are that day. We shut down all that's good in us, and the bad just clicks on and you will sit back feeling like a total waste of space and worthless until someone comes along and encourages you.
When that person, or whatever it might be, that comes and hits that encouragement to 1 those same switches and gates turn the other way, Sadness is replaced with Joy, a 1. The 1 of Hope replaces the 0 of dispair and you begin to feel good. The depression breaks for a while instead of you. And you can go on for a bit longer. The simplest way to feel good is to be encouraged.
The good news is, there is a constant 1 in the universe. An encourager, a hope maker, a joy giver, and a lover. He is every good in a world of bad. He is the 1 to drown out all the 0s. And he is there for you. He is set and ready to whisper 1s into your life day after day, night after night. Like I said, we humans are all sorts of 0s and 1s but God is a constant 1.
01010100 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01001010 01100101 01110011 01110101 01110011 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01100101 00101110 00100000 01010100 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100110 01101001 01111000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101110 00100000 01010100 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100010 01100101 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110011 01110100 01100001 01101110 01110100 00101110 .
