We had a birthday in the house today. Somebody turned 21. She was the star of the day. Everything revolved around her!! And we loved doing that for her!!
Birthdays are special times when we can lavish attention on the people we love and nobody criticizes us for spoiling them. We get outside ourselves, outside our little lives, pursuits, and schedules, and let something be about someone else for a change.
I wonder though. Why do we have to wait until someone's birthday or anniversary to tell someone how much they mean to us? How many of us have wished - after someone we love has moved away (in this world or out of it) - that we had told or showed that person how much he or she meant to us? How many hours, weeks, years have we wasted being so busy making a living that we forgot to make a life with the people we love? How many older people do we know who are alone and lonely because their family members only got criticism and never knew they were loved, so they never even phone home?
Who are the people in our lives who made us feel special? wanted? loved? accepted? I have known people like that in my life; most of them were people who never knew how much their attention, their openness meant to me when I was growing up. Special memories, made all the more special because they were so rare. Some of them I was able to approach and tell what their influence meant to me...and I am so glad that I did. It wasn't hard. A personal note in a greeting card. A thank you note. An email (a real one - not a forward!!) A text. And lately - just writing a message to someone or putting something on their wall on Facebook.
It's a whole new perspective on things. I remember what it's like to try and do something for someone and have him or her cut it all to pieces before I hear the words (if ever, that is), "Thank you." I decided that just for today, and for all the todays I can, I can try to look for the yes, the positive, the uplifting, the encouraging word. Not just for what others do, not just for what God does (although it starts there) but also for what I do. I am way too hard on myself, and I think that I am hard on others because of it. So - why not I give us both a break?
I'm learning that it doesn't take much effort to build someone up rather than tear him or her down. To see the positive first, rather than the negative.
It just takes a little re-training of my mind, a little bit of faith in myself and in others ... and a whole lot of gratitude to God.
Birthdays are special times when we can lavish attention on the people we love and nobody criticizes us for spoiling them. We get outside ourselves, outside our little lives, pursuits, and schedules, and let something be about someone else for a change.
I wonder though. Why do we have to wait until someone's birthday or anniversary to tell someone how much they mean to us? How many of us have wished - after someone we love has moved away (in this world or out of it) - that we had told or showed that person how much he or she meant to us? How many hours, weeks, years have we wasted being so busy making a living that we forgot to make a life with the people we love? How many older people do we know who are alone and lonely because their family members only got criticism and never knew they were loved, so they never even phone home?
Who are the people in our lives who made us feel special? wanted? loved? accepted? I have known people like that in my life; most of them were people who never knew how much their attention, their openness meant to me when I was growing up. Special memories, made all the more special because they were so rare. Some of them I was able to approach and tell what their influence meant to me...and I am so glad that I did. It wasn't hard. A personal note in a greeting card. A thank you note. An email (a real one - not a forward!!) A text. And lately - just writing a message to someone or putting something on their wall on Facebook.
It's a whole new perspective on things. I remember what it's like to try and do something for someone and have him or her cut it all to pieces before I hear the words (if ever, that is), "Thank you." I decided that just for today, and for all the todays I can, I can try to look for the yes, the positive, the uplifting, the encouraging word. Not just for what others do, not just for what God does (although it starts there) but also for what I do. I am way too hard on myself, and I think that I am hard on others because of it. So - why not I give us both a break?
I'm learning that it doesn't take much effort to build someone up rather than tear him or her down. To see the positive first, rather than the negative.
It just takes a little re-training of my mind, a little bit of faith in myself and in others ... and a whole lot of gratitude to God.
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