Family

What is family to you?

To me, family are the people who you should feel safe with. You should be able to have conversations with them without feeling attacked. You should love them and feel loved by them. They are the ones that should be there, first in line, to help you through a situation. And yet, it sometimes seems as though they are just the opposite of that. They are there to attack your opinion of something or someone. They are right there making hurtful comments about you without regard as to who else might be listening or reading.

Why is it that "We hurt the ones we love"?

Is it really so hard to show love to those that God chose to be the closest in our lives? Is it that we know that no matter what, they are family and they "will get over it"? I know that no family is perfect. We all have different opinions, religions, or political views, but I feel it is important to respect each other enough to listen and talk about those differences without personally attacking one another. So, how can that happen? What can we change in our lives to make this possible?  I don't know the answer, so I guess I am hoping for some help with this one! Any comments are welcome!

That Hurt!

Yesterday morning at work, I received a phone call from someone who I considered to be a friend. She was upset that her check had been deposited in the bank. I told her that I was never told that she needed the check to be held for a few days. Her boyfriend, who I also considered a friend, insisted to her that he told me. I can remember the conversation "to a tea", and I am positive that he didn't tell me that. I was extremely hurt by the whole thing. As the day progressed, I found myself getting more and more angry at them both. And yet.....that voice that I know to be the Lord's kept saying "FORGIVE THEM!!" 

Matthew 6:14-15 says “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

It was a tough thing to get through, but with God's help, I have forgiven them, and I pray that God will give me the right words to say should I run into them in the near future.

I can't understand some people!

It just baffles me that people think that:
(1.) if they use foul language and yelling that they will get what they want and
(2.) that it is OK to act that way.

I was taught that no job pays me enough to sit and listen to someone cussing at me. I will hang up on someone if they cuss at me, and I have! If you show respect to the people you are in contact with, they are more likely to respect you and try their best to help you out.

Sorry....JUST HAD TO VENT!

What is in a Word?

She offered to make cookies EVERYTIME we came over, and oh man, were they yummy!!! She loved listening to country music on her record player, and she knew everything there was to know about her favorite singers. She loved to knit. She tried to teach me how to do that, but I was never able to figure it out. Most of all, she was a wonderful woman who loved everybody she knew. She never held a grudge when my cousins or I picked on her. (Oh how I regret that now!) She would turn right around and offer us a cookie and she never said a single hurtful word to us. Never even gave it a second thought.

I bring up this information because of a single word that gets said a lot these days. I will only use it once in this post. That word is "retard(ed)" If you ask a teenager the meaning of that word, chances are, they will say it means someone is dumb. They call their friends or family members that to insult them or to tease them. While they are insulting other people, they are also calling someone with developmental disabilities dumb, but as you have read above, about my aunt, she was capable of doing many things on her own. What if they aren't capable of those things, you might ask. To that, I say that they still deserve respect and love just like anyone else in this world. They are human beings.

~July 9, 1950 - Aug 13, 1989~

She was someones daughter, granddaughter, sister, sister in-law, and MY aunt. I love her and I miss her dearly. My point in this is that when that word is said, it is hurtful, even if it was not directed to them. Please be courteous and speak to people in the way you would want to be spoken to. I can tell you that the "R" word is something you will never hear me say because it is insulting to one of the most wonderful people I have ever had the privilege to know - my aunt Marlyce!