【推荐1】A video of a tearful young man bursting with joy, pride and gratitude during his high school graduation recently went popular. Dontrail Spencer was _______ holding his diploma and screaming out the names of his teachers and family members who had _______ him along the way. They had been encouraging him to keep his eyes on the goals and to push through the _______ days. 

None of us can _______ life without encouragement — especially from a parent, best friend, school teacher or spiritual leader. Their _______ keeps us going and believing in ourselves. When someone gives you encouragement, you are given the _______ to do something important. You are made stronger. 

Even volunteers like myself _______ words of encouragement. Back in February, I was in my fifth week as a community volunteer during the pandemics (大流行病). I don’t _______ meeting Grace, a lady who had been very sick and in the hospital. But one morning I _______ an email from her: “Thank you and all involved for keeping our community and life moving forward. It makes me sad that our ________ a relationship has been so limited. I enjoy your Wednesday chorus and ________ find you inspirational. I’m ________ to be part of it. Love, Grace.” 

A few days later I received a call that she had ________. Grace was nearing the end of her life, but she took time to encourage me. Every time I read her email, I’m ________ by her words. When we encourage one another — everybody wins. Be generous in your ________. We all need it. Some now more than ever.

【推荐3】A little girl was enjoying the beautiful garden in her home. Her father had a good collection of rare and prized plants, which he ________ with great care.

The girl was ________ by a plant full of delicate flowers. She approached it and admired its striking beauty. Suddenly she ________ that the plant was in a pile of filth (污秽). She could not tolerate the ________ of dirt with such fantastic flowers.

She worked out a plan to clean the plant. She ________ the plant with all her might from the dirt and washed its ________ in running tap water till all traces of dirt were washed away. She then placed the plant on a clean stone and went away, proud that she had done a great ________.

Later the little daughter ran over, followed by her father, to ________ her achievement. “I have cleaned it, Daddy,” she reported ________.

To spot the uprooted plant, which had lain ________ in the baking sun, the father showed her how her treatment had nearly killed the plant and told her that the filthy soil was the best ________ to grow that plant. Hearing that, the girl felt guilty that the plant had suffered by her cleaning.

A great gardener mixes ________ soil for each plant. ________, God provides each of us with the best ________ required for optimum (最佳) spiritual growth. But it may appear to be ________ and we may even complain to God about our difficulty.

【推荐1】I was tired and hungry after a long day of work.

When I walked into the living-room, my 12-year-old son looked_______   at me and said “I love you.” I didn’t know what to say. _______several seconds all I could do was to stand there and _______ down at him. My first thought was he must need _______ while doing his homework _______ he was trying to prepare me for some _______.

Finally, I asked, “What was that all about?” “_______.” He said, “My teacher said we should tell our parents that we love them and see what they say. It’s an experiment.”

The next day I _______ his teacher at my office to find out more about this “experiment” and how the other parents had responded （反应）.

“_______ , most of the fathers had the same reaction as you did.” The teacher said, “When I first ________ we try this, I asked the children what they thought their parents would say. Some of them thought their parents would have heart trouble. The point is,” the teacher explained, “feeling ________is an important part of ________. It’s something all human beings ________. What I’m trying to tell the children is that it’s too ________ that we don’t express those feelings. A boy should be able to tell his dad that he loves him.”

The teacher, a middle-aged man, understands how difficult it is for some of us to say the things that would be good for us to say.

When my son came to me ________, I held on to him for an extra second. And just ________he pulled away, I said in my deepest, most manly voice, “Hey, I love you.”

I didn’t know if saying that would make ________ of us healthier, but we did feel pretty ________. Maybe________ time when one of my children says “I love you”, it would not take me a whole ________to think of the right answer.