First, I would like to say please bear with me, I haven't posted at my usual times this last week, and I should have posted and told everyone what I was up to at least. I am rearranging almost my entire house. We moved in here four years ago, and had a large addition built on. Shortly thereafter my daughter and her three girls were in an awful car wreck, and had to stay with us for about six months so I could care for them. So, we set up hospital beds in our new addition, and made it into a care facility for our family in need. When they got better, and they did recover wonderfully, thanks to God's blessings, we just kind of moved hospital beds, and wheel chairs out and stuck furniture in the room. I never did really think about how I wanted to arrange it, or what I really wanted the purpose of the four added rooms to be. So now I am switching rooms for better function, and trying to think what style I really want them decorated in, and to top it off, I am combining two craft rooms into one more streamlined, efficient one. So...needless to say, I am super busy. I will be able to do so much more crafting when this is all settled. It should only take about another week. Please bear with me. I love all my friends who read my blog, and wouldn't want to loose one. In the Meantime, before I close, I feel like God has put something on my heart I have to say. I know this is a crafting blog, but I am a Christian first, and I have to follow what God would have me do. So please read on:
I absolutely love children. I am a Superhero defender of children, and something has come to my attention that I feel needs to be said. So many times I sit back and watch children interacting with their parents in malls, at the park, at family gatherings, and so on, and sometimes it's all I can do to keep from crying. In this busy world we live in, sometimes I think we come to take them for granted. God has given us these precious gifts to cherish, teach, instruct, and influence, and while we all love our children, I don't think we remember to treat them like people. I have seen mothers sitting and talking in groups while their children play at family gatherings, and I know children shouldn't interrupt adults, sometimes that's the only way they can get a word in! I have seen a small child stand patiently for five to ten minutes with his hand on his mom's knee waiting to tell her something or ask for help, and then he would begin to say, Mom.....Mom.....MOM! The mother turns and yells right in his face WHAT DO YOU WANT??? The look on the little child's face makes me want to cry. Just stop and think for a minute, how would you feel if someone screamed at you like that when you needed their attention for a moment? It's so demeaning. We are supposed to be their protectors, and make them feel loved, and secure. We tend to not think of our children as people with feelings, they are "Just kids". But they do have feelings, and we need to remember that they don't even have the life experience that we have had to draw upon to solve their emotional problems. No one means more to them than we do, and we can break their little hearts very easily. Simply saying to the person to whom you are conversing with, "Excuse me just a moment, please hold that thought, my child needs my attention for just a moment," would be so much easier on both you and your child. Even with teenagers, while they may not admit our approval is important at this stage of their life, to most, rejection of any kind really hurts them too.
I have also witnessed parents making fun of their child for being sensitive, like crying easily, or getting their feelings easily hurt, or being crabby. Sometimes people just have days where they are sensitive or crabby. In this day and time tenderness and sensitivity should be treasured. So many people have become hardened their attitude towards life and others Adults "get up on the wrong side of the bed" sometimes, and we usually justify our ill behavior, or sensitivity to some occurrence in our life giving us the right to behave badly.
But you know, if we are adults and can't always control our behavior, how can we expect more of these little ones? We often times expect more emotional stability and strength from out children than we do from ourselves and other adults in our life. I don't want to seem to lecture, and I am not pointing the finger at anyone, I am just asking, take a moment to think before you react to situations with your children, and ask your self " How would I feel if someone talked to me the way I am getting ready to talk to my child?" I have made the mistake myself, and their little sad face will come back to my mind later, and I am ashamed of how I treated them. We never know how long we will have with our loved ones, I have lost many loved ones over the years, let's try not to hurt the ones we treasure the most. This advice could go for interacting with adults too. Always ask yourself, "How would I feel if someone said the same thing to me, or treated me this way?" before you react thoughtlessly.
I hope I haven't hurt anyone's feelings, or offended anyone, I just felt like it needed to be said. We are all trying to rush around and get through our busy day's work, and we don't slow down to think about people and how we are treating them, we just get annoyed if they get in our way. Let's take a moment, once in a while, and analyze how we seem to others. What are we projecting to others with our behavior? Thanks for listening! Love to you all!
