There were once two brothers who couldn’t have been more different. One was always cheerful, the other always grumpy. Their parents worried about them both, thinking that they needed to be more balanced in their outlook on life. 

So, they took the kids to a psychologist who decided to engage in an experiment. He took the grumpy brother and put him in a room full of wonderful toys. The psychologist instructed the child to play with the toys for a while and they’d come back later to check on him. He then took the happy brother to a horse barn, full of manure, and instructed him to shovel the manure for a while. They’d come back later to check on him. 

After a while had passed, the psychologist and parents went back to check on the grumpy brother, expecting to find him happy, playing with all the great toys. Instead, they found him crying in the middle of the room. When asked what was wrong, the brother responded that one toy broke and another was the wrong color and a third made a funny noise. He had all the reasons why every toy was no good. 

Disappointed with the results, they went to the happy brother, expecting to find him sullen, too, having spent a while shoveling horse manure. When they approached him, they found him whistling, happy as could be, shoveling the manure. They asked the brother how he could be so happy when he’d spent so much time shoveling manure. The brother replied: “With all this manure everywhere, I figured there must be a pony somewhere!” 

It’s a great joke. I learned it as part of my counseling training; the fourth of the four basic counseling skills. My professor called it, “find the pony,” referring to this joke to say that it’s always possible to find something positive in the negative comments given by a client. And indeed, it was sometimes our job as counselors to reflect the positive we found back to the client so that she or he could reframe their current negative mindset. 

It works in counseling and it works in the rest of life, too. It’s easier to complain than compliment. We humans tend to be faster to see the negative than the positive. No matter the difficulties, challenges, manure, we know, what if we lived find the pony kind of lives?

To get at answering that question, consider the beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-12. Fair to say that Jesus finds the pony.

Jesus has just gone up the mount to preach. This is the opening of his teaching ministry in the gospel of Matthew. Before this, he’s spent forty days in the wilderness being tempted. Then, he leaves and begins to perform miracles, creating quite a following. People are so intrigued by this new prophet who can do signs and wonders. They want to know more about him.

So a crowd forms. But this is no ordinary crowd. This is a crowd devoid of the wealthy, powerful, and elite of society. It’s a crowd of the poor, the weak, the sick, the marginalized, the oppressed, the underprivileged. They are the ones who are attracted to Jesus. Those who have enough in this life don’t feel a need for Jesus. What could he provide that they don’t already have? But those who don’t have enough flock to this man who heals, provides, and loves. 

So Jesus goes up on a mountain to preach to them, to begin his teaching ministry. Picture the scene: Jesus is ready to give a speech, a crowd has formed around him, there’s a buzz in the air because everyone knows they’re going to hear a great teaching from a man they understand to be the greatest prophet they’ve had at least in a while, maybe ever. Matthew paints Jesus as a new Moses and undoubtedly some of the crowd thinks of him that way. 

Picture the scene: This is a big crowd full of people who are moving around, who are standing and talking, who have children running around screaming and playing and crying and doing what children do. There’s a palpable buzz of excitement. There’s the energy that comes from that buzz. This is like a crowd at a concert right before a band takes the stage. Or a crowd right before a football team takes the field. Or a crowd right before a rally. 

This is a crowd ready to be further energized. Ready for Jesus to receive the kickoff and run it back 90 yards for a touchdown. Ready for Jesus to grab his guitar and start rocking. This is a crowd ready to be motivated to action, ready to go. If Jesus treats this like a pep rally, he can win their loyalty and build a base of support. 

Jesus could easily, with an energizing, political, speech, have this crowd on his side, grab their loyalty, and then have a base of support from which to operate as he moves to create a new Israel. This is a great moment for Jesus. In this crowd, with their buzz of excitement and eager anticipation, Jesus has tremendous opportunity to become a powerful political figure. He could begin with focusing on how the religious and secular authorities are keeping them down, how current regimes are failing them, and how he can make their lives better if they follow him. That’s how to start a revolution, that’s how to take advantage of the buzz in the crowd, and time and again in history, we see revolutionaries, leaders of nations, generals of armies, or run-of-the-mill political opportunists, do just that.

But instead, he sits down and begins with the beatitudes. Instead of seizing the opportunity for power, he encourages them. Instead of garnering their loyalty, he loves on them. Instead of leading for his own benefit, he helps them find the pony. 

Jesus leads with encouragement. 

Most of us have heard the beatitudes most of our lives. That includes me. But as I prepared this sermon, it struck me that this is the opening of Jesus’s first speech to the people of Israel. This is how the sermon on the mount begins, with encouragement. 

Jesus’s opening message in his public ministry is to find the pony. 

He could have led in any of the ways just described; the way we know many modern leaders lead, the way that would have created that base of support from which he could have launched a new Galilee or even a new Israel through a populist movement. But instead he sees that this crowd needs encouragement. These are the poor, the weak, the humiliated, the despised, the sick, the outcasted, the oppressed, the marginalized. They are the people who think that society doesn’t work for them. They are the ones who struggle to get by every month and some months just don’t make it. They are the ones who are full of resentment. They are the ones hardened and embittered by the life they’ve lived. They are the not polite society. 

And they are in much need of encouragement in this life. 

And so Jesus leads with encouragement by helping them find the pony. That’s how he launches his public ministry. He says:

Blessed are you who are downtrodden and run over by life, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are you who are depressed and aggrieved by life, for you will be comforted. 

Blessed are you who are lowly and of little regard from polite society, for you will inherit the land. 

Blessed are you who are eager to see justice done, for you will find it. 

Blessed are you who show mercy when it’s not deserved, for you will receive the same. 

Blessed are you who are going on toward perfection, living lives as disciples, for you will see God. 

Blessed are you who make peace when the world says make war, for God calls you his children. 

In this paraphrase of the beatitudes, we hear the encouragement Jesus has for the crowd; the words they need to hear because of the way life has treated them. For all the ways they’re suffering, they will be blessed. For all the ways they know hardship, they will be blessed. 

So, rather than use this moment to create security in his leadership, rather than fostering a movement for political gain, he puts the people before himself, helping them find the pony in their lives. It’s remarkable and sets a high standard for leadership. 

Jesus sets the example. He leads with encouragement. 

What would it look like if, in our lives, we led with encouragement? 

Consider the last time someone said a critical thing to you. I bet it’s not hard to think back to when that was and what that was. Negative comments stick in our mind like glue and are hard to remove. 

Now consider the last time someone said something encouraging to you. I bet that’s harder to recall unless it happened very recently. Negative comments hit harder and stay longer in our minds than positive ones. It’s said that we need four to five positive interactions with someone to overcome every one negative interaction. It’s just human nature. 

That’s why we must actively choose to lead with encouragement. It may not come naturally. The key word in find the pony is find: we often have to go looking for the positive in this life. Sometimes, that means doing some searching. Sometimes, we have to work hard, dig our way through piles of manure, to find the positive.

But it’s there, waiting to be found. There’s a pony around here somewhere. If we all have in common those negative experiences, if we all have in common ways that life has been hard and drug us down, if we all have in common the reality that negative comments tend to have staying power, then we all have in common the need for encouragement. 

We can be a blessing to others when we help them find the pony, when we lead with encouragement. 

What would it look like to live a life leading with encouragement? 

Consider the saints in our lives, people we revere for their faith and positive outlook. Bring one or more folks like that in your life to mind. These saints undoubtedly encouraged us, left us feeling more positive about ourselves and the world. They led with encouragement. We are grateful for the lives of the saints in part because of the example they set; the positive, encouraging, find the pony example.

The way they made us feel forms a lasting legacy. Consider that famous quote from Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” That’s true of the saints today, it was true for those listening to Jesus, and it’s true for us today. 

The saints we remember, those we hold near and dear in our hearts, are people who made us feel encouraged, who inspired us, who were good for our souls. These saints just made us feel good. I can think of my grandfather, for example, or a former professor of mine, or the person who led my confirmation when I was but twelve, all of whom have gone on to glory. A piece of them lives on within me because of how they made me feel. Especially because, at hard moments of life, they helped me find the pony.

The saints led with encouragement. So it can be for us. We can choose to lead with encouragement, helping others find the pony, just like the saints, just like Jesus.

We begin by taking the time to appreciate the people in our lives. There are folks in our lives that we value highly but rarely tell them so. There are folks in our lives whom we could not live without but we rarely show them affection. There are folks in our lives who have made a difference in ours but perhaps we haven’t told them so very often or at all. Showing appreciation, especially to our families and friends, is a way to lead with encouragement.

We lead with encouragement in how we handle our various leadership roles, whether with an organization, on a board, or in our family. We do so when we show our businesses and organizations and families what good they have, what talents they possess, what skills they bring to the table. We do so when we go out of our way to thank folks for their labor. We help those we lead by helping our organizations find the pony. Doing these things often is how we lead with encouragement. 

We lead with encouragement with how we conduct ourselves around town. Are we quick to be critical of our city and county, of the service we get at a restaurant, of the employees at the stores where we shop? How often do we thank those people for their service? Retail and government work are thankless jobs. We have the opportunity to change their thankless jobs by showing them we appreciate their service to us. That’s how we lead with encouragement. 

If we will reflect back the good we find, the ponies we find, even if what we find seems to be full of manure, we will leave the things we lead in better shape than we found them, stronger than we found them. And, when we reflect back the ponies we find, we help to shovel the manure away. We can make a difference in our families, with our friends, in the organizations we lead, and around town by finding the pony, leading with encouragement.

Leading with encouragement also means being receptive to the needs of those around us, just as Jesus could read the crowd. We can all notice when someone is off, doesn’t seem right, looks downtrodden or depressed. Often, it’s tempting to not bother them, thinking that they probably want to be left alone or not bothered. But quite often that’s a lie we tell ourselves so we can feel better about not doing the right thing, which is to check on them. If they want to be left alone, they’ll tell us, but the fact that we took the time to check on them will register quite positively in their lives. And if they do want to talk, then we’ve been the friend they needed, leading with encouragement. The simple act of checking on folks is a way of finding the pony.

To put it simply, taking the time to be encouraging is how we lead with encouragement. That’s one of the things Jesus models for us here. 

Let us live lives that leave others feeling encouraged. Let us model ourselves after the saints in our lives. Let us live into the example of Jesus here with the beatitudes. Check in on those we see suffering. Take time to appreciate others. Reflect back to family members and colleagues and subordinates where you see them doing well and what you appreciate about them. Let us lead with encouragement.

And, let’s start this week by writing cards. It’s a wonderful thing to get personal mail. Make a goal to write five cards this week expressing encouragement to someone in your life. Find the pony, share with them why you appreciate them, check in on them and let them know you’re thinking about them; lead with encouragement. If every one of us who reads this sermon were to do this, some 500 cards would go through the mail. Consider the impact of that wave of encouragement!

Then, after this week, make a plan for how you’ll continue to lead with encouragement. Let us follow Jesus’s example by leading with encouragement:

To the poor in spirit, we can be a blessing when we check in on them.

To those who mourn, we can be a blessing when we empathize and sit with them.

To the meek, we can be a blessing when we appreciate them.

To those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, we can be a blessing when we encourage them.

To the merciful, we can be a blessing when we appreciate them. 

To the pure in heart, we can be a blessing we when we encourage them.

To the peacemakers, we can be a blessing when we help them find the pony. 

To the persecuted, we can be a blessing when we share in their struggle.

When we felt any of these ways ourselves, the saints in our lives checked on us, encouraged us, appreciated us, helped us find the pony. That’s the power of leading with encouragement, as the saints and as Jesus himself show us this morning. We can be a blessing when we will lead with encouragement.

So let us write those cards, help others find the ponies that are all around us. In doing so, we will be a saint to others, just like those we remember this day. Let us lead with encouragement.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Amen.