Kudos to my daughter ...

For those of you who know our family, you know that we all polar opposites. Take a personality test in our family, and you will get all four personalities and various combinations of them all! (Especially when you add in sons-in-laws, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, etc.) However, that's what makes a family 'tick' well. We have our typical problems as does any family. Relationships are strained at times -- but the bottom line is that we stand together.

One of the things we get frustrated about (among many things -- ugh!) is how common gossip, evil speaking occurs. Oh, we've been on the receiving end of that -- and part of me wants to shake folks and say, "Why don't you come talk to us?" It's like when there is a divorce and you listen to one side. And I've been caught up in the rumor mill at times and usually Bob is the first one to urge me to not discuss it outside our home. It's easy to get carried away when someone tells us something 'juicy'. Why is it that we seem to feed on negative things we hear about others? I guess we've lost sight of the "Whatsoever things are pure ... think on these things." I'm talking to myself, too!! I'll be honest, if I wrote about all the 'juicy' stuff I 'think' I know about people, I'd write a huge book! And it would probably be a work of fiction!

Recently, Bob reminded me of John Wesley's sermon on "The Cure of Evil Speaking" and as I read it, I had to say, "Ouch, Amen!!" Wow!!

Anyway, back to the "kudos" thing ... Sandi (on the right in the photo above) posted the following on her blog recently. I read it and knew that everything she said was true. However, one of the interesting things about this is that the youth of our church and conference absolutely love her. She may speak "truth" to them and will not listen to "gossip", but when their home is open to the young people, lots of them show up!! I remember her telling us about some issues at youth camp and when she dealt with them, the girls were issued an order which they followed -- do not talk about this especially as it related to 'evil speaking'. (I couldn't even tell you who the girls were.)

Rather than ramble on ... I am going to include a portion of what she wrote ... and I am going to strive to be more like her in this way! We have learned to 'learn' from each other. I learn stuff from my grandkids and kids! Hopefully, they won't learn the rambling technique I seem to have mastered so well!!

"I am never the first on anyone's list to ask out to dinner or the movies and that is partly my own fault. Through my own experiences and stuggles, I have developed my own set of "rules" for myself and they include not allowing gossip when I am around and never talking to someone about an issue unless they are the person involved or seeking advice only from those in my level of leadership or above. That can make friendships interesting to say the least. There are many times when I walk in a room that conversation stops. And I can understand why people would feel that I am not the most "fun" person to be around. I also made a decision about 4-5 years ago that I would rather be respected than liked. That can be very lonely place to be but I feel like it was something I needed to do and God was calling me to a different place in my relationship with Him and with others." --Sandi's blog

Hopefully, when I grow up, I will be more like her!!