A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in High school by telling them the difference they each made using a process developed by Helice Bridges of Del Mar, California. She called each student to the front of the class, one at a time. First she told them how they made a difference to her and the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon imprinted with gold letters which read, "Who I Am Makes a Difference."

Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class project to see what kind of impact recognition would have on a community. She gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this Acknowledgment ceremony. Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honored whom and report back to the class in about a week.

One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his career planning . He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt. Then he gave him two extra ribbons, and said, "We're doing a class project on recognition, and we'd like you to go out, find somebody to honor, give them a blue ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third person to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back to me and tell me what happened."

Later that day the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had been noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy fellow. He sat his boss down and he told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and would he give him permission to put it on him. His surprised boss said, "Well, sure". The junior executive took the blue ribbon and placed it right on his boss's jacket above his heart. As he gave him the last extra ribbon, he said, "Would you do me a favor? Would you take this extra ribbon and pass it on by honoring somebody else? The young boy who first gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to keep this recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people"

That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son and sat him down He said, "The most incredible thing happened to me today I was in my office and one of the junior executives came in and told me he admired me and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius.

Imagine . He thinks I'm a creative genius . Then he put this blue ribbon that says 'Who I Am Makes A Difference' on my jacket above my heart.

He gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honor with this ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honor you "My days are really hectic and when I come home I don't pay a lot of attention to you. Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in school, and for your bedroom being a mess, but somehow tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me. Besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life. You're a great kid and I love you!"

The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn't stop crying. His whole body shook. He looked up at his father and said through his tears, "I was planning on committing suicide tomorrow, Dad, because I didn't think you loved me. Now I don't need to"
-Helice Bridges

It's not over, scroll down.

Sometimes our greatest and most accurate observations about God come in moments of utter despair and desperation, when life seems futile and God seems silent. Such was the case for Tommy Dorsey. Such was the case for the Psalmist. Perhaps this is your experience as well.

God is never gone. He is always present, ready to render aid to those who will seek and accept His type of help. Our problem, perhaps, is that when we are out of options with only one hope left-God, we seem to tell him exactly how He should get us out of the mess we got ourselves into. We need to let God be God.

Let Him, from His eternal perspective and heavenly vantage, choose the solution to our woes. He will never let you down or leave you. Remember the poem "Foot Prints"? when you see only a pair of footprints in the sand, don't assume that they are yours. In fact, at the times you called out to God and let Him help you, those footprints are the Lord's as He carries you.

I pray that your week will be blessed. Reach out to someone in pain or sorrow this week. Let them know how very much our Lord loves them. Be a visible reminder of the compassion and mercy that God has for us.

Be encouraged!!

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