Most of these posts come out in May. "Love on your mom, it's her special day," they say. WELL, I want to take the time right now to acknowledge my mom for her wonderfulness.
She's not just there on Mother's Day - she's there in the midst of "Where's my pencil?" and "I don't know where this spoon goes!" and "Have you seen my shirt? You know, that greyish-purply one..." She's there when everyone needs to get out the door in -10 minutes to make it to school/church/appointment on time. She's as I'm grabbing my keys and backpack at heading to school, and she's saying, "Sara, there'll be a burrito in the fridge for you for lunch." I can make my own lunch, I'm capable of that. But she made one for me anyways.
I love you Mom!
I'm going to go eat my burrito now.
I had a soccer game two days ago. In said soccer game, we were tied 0-0 until the last five minutes. Soccer being what it is, some rough playing was happening. The ref wasn't trying to give us talking to's or anything, no one was getting hurt that badly, he was just calling it out when he could.
How-eeevvverrrrrrrrrr........
the parents didn't agree
the players didn't agree
the coaches didn't agree
our team didn't agree with their disagreement
our team didn't agree with the ref
our team didn't agree with the other team
and so everyone badmouthed.
I find it so frustrating. Please excuse any bitterness in this post and try to listen to my message - why can't we just hold our tongues? We hurt people with what we say and think nothing of it. We are quick to judge without knowing the person, and even quicker to express our judgement, whether it is a positive or negative one.
In James it says "the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining our whole bodies, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell...no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God." (James 3:6, 8-9 ESV)
This is so true. SO true. But that does not make it acceptable. It is not an excuse. We still need to strive to say nothing that is not pure, helpful, uplifting. That's my challenge: hold your tongue.
Yesterday, a stranger told me I was pretty. I'm normally the smart one, or the short one, or the one with a strong faith, so the different compliment touched me. Besides that, I realised the compliment meant more because it was a stranger saying so.
When you get to know people, they become beautiful and wonderful regardless of how they look on the outside, and we intuitively know that. When Mom says I look pretty today, it's still nice hearing it, but it's like, it's Mom she's supposed to say that. They're my friends they're supposed to say that. A compliment from a total stranger will touch deeper and remain with us for much longer.
With that in mind, we should consider complimenting strangers around us. If you notice that the girl next to you in English has her hair done up nicely, tell her so. If you really like those shoes, mention them. Encourage those around you. And not just those who you're supposed to compliment.
