I love reading bluesdad. While my husband does drive a great big pickup truck, and my kids have occasionally drawn on tables (but not with my knowledge or blessing!), I am not offended by him at all; I like how he encourages me to ponder life.
I was just reading this post and as I started to comment I realized that what I wanted to say was probably about as long as a post and so I thought I might as well just make it one.
Tonight for family scripture study we were reading in the third chapter of Mark. Jesus enters the synagogue and there is a man with a withered hand. He proceeds to heal him, even though it is the Sabbath. The Pharisees are watching him (maliciously, it says) and rather than being happy for the man because he has been given a new lease on life, they are happy that they found something with which to accuse Jesus with, it being unlawful to “work” on the Sabbath.
We talked as a family about how we often find ourselves looking for and accentuating the negative in others rather than feeling compassion for them and doing things to ease their burdens. Lately it has come home forcefully to me about how I have been so very negative with my own children. I want them to be successful and happy in life, but rather than being encouraging about what they are doing right, I pick at what they are doing wrong. By accentuating the negative, I am actually contributing to their burden rather than easing it. I can see how that negativity has impacted them as they are not very confident in certain areas of their lives.
Thanks, Blue's Dad, for being humble enough to share a not-so-proud moment. It is these painful moments that define and refine who we truly are. Hopefully from them we can learn to be more compassionate and bring hope and healing to those around us. Hopefully we can learn to be more like the Savior who “saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.”
4 comments:
Thanks M for referencing me in your post. Yours is an example of how a response to a post can be better than the original post! Good job!
Such a great post, mindylou. I am always finding myself focusing on the negative, so I appreciate your words very much. I have worked very hard at trying to build my children--and wish it was more of a natural thing for me to do.
Your comment about "adding to their burdens" really has me thinking--particularly in my relationships with others who are struggling. Thanks.
i struggle with this as well. i don't like hearing myself nagging and being critical, and yet it takes constant vigilance to do the opposite. thanks for inspiring me to do better and more of the positive. it WILL make a difference to our children if we do it.
I have been struggling with this a lot myself lately. Especially because I have an eight year old boy who has decided to be disobedient a lot of the time. I know he's testing his limits, and he's pushing them to MY max!
I do praise him for the good he has done, but when I get pressurized like a steam cooker is when I get very negative instead of being the calm one.
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