The other day, Isaac was disciplining our puppy Biscuit for something. Afterwards, I saw him out of the corner of my eye pick him up and look him in the face and say, "I don't like what you do very much, but I like YOU." That has stuck with me for days. I loved that. I never said anything to him about it, but I will tonight. That was something I needed to be reminded of.
Maddie has been having issues at school lately and both of the kids have been arguing a lot. I have had to do a lot of disciplining in the last couple of months. I don't like doing that, but I love my kids and I know it's best for them when I discipline them and correct bad behavior to shape their character the right way. They just don't appreciate it that much! Both of my kids can be very sensitive to correction, and often take it so hard as if the thing I am correcting them for somehow defines them at that moment. I need to take some time and tell them as often as I can when I need to correct them for something....."I don't like what you do sometimes, but I LOVE YOU."
What you do doesn't define who you are. That goes for all of us. Maybe we need reminded of that for ourselves as well. Sometimes we can be harder on ourselves than any judge or critic.
I read something today about encouragement, and I think it fits here. "We should seize every opportunity to give encouragement. Encouragement is oxygen to the soul." How true is that?! I rememeber not too long ago, I took the kids to Subway and it was 9:00 at night. We were on our way back in town and the kids were hungry. The lady behind the counter didn't say hello, didn't smile, and was very short with her questions. It kind of offended me, but I just smiled and said, "Are you ready to go home?" She said no, that she still had a couple of hours left to work and to clean up, and then she smiled and started talking to us. Her whole attitude completely changed. I wouldn't even say anything I did or said was encouraging. But just talking to her as one human being to another seemed to open up her spirit.
So many times during our days we are faced with decisions to stop what we are doing and encourage someone else...or just smile instead of walking past them without a second glance. If we manage employees for our job, we may be tempted to point out only what they need to work on and not letting them know how much we appreciate their efforts...if we have children we may bark orders after a long hard day and not even realize all they need is a little encouragement and love and attention to make their spirits blossom right before our eyes.
I know I write a lot about this, but I think it's something that goes by the wayside with our busy lives. We just all need reminded that we are precious human beings. We aren't just good for something, we are blessed with many gifts and talents and we are good for MANY things! You may be the only one to strengthen someone's spirit today. What a wonderful, meaningful job to have! :)
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