Kids = creativity and...
wisdom
An old hymn offers a prayer for help in speaking only kind and right words:
"Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee…”
– And keep them closed the rest of the time!
The third line is my personal addition.
One of the graces that blesses relationships is knowing when to speak and when to keep silent. Recently my third-grade grandson helped me figure this out.
He and I were working at one end of the kitchen. At the other end of the room, his brother and his other grandmother were doing homework. Voices rose, and I chimed in, all the way across the room, with an opinion.
My grandson, standing beside me, quietly pointed out, “Grandma, that isn’t your conversation.”
My know-it-all comment jolted to a halt. “You’re right!” I said to the little guy. “What you just said is so helpful!”
I have since been pondering what is my conversation and what is not. I realized the answer to this question has to do with respect. Respecting others’ conversations means not jumping in uninvited. How totally simple.
In fact it’s so easy, I think I can do it. Apparently what’s required is breaking an old habit.
I like what Mary Baker Eddy says about struggling to do the right thing – that it’s a prayer in action. “The habitual struggle to be always good is unceasing prayer.”
I’m sure I will have plenty of opportunity this coming week to live that prayer!
"Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee…”
– And keep them closed the rest of the time!
The third line is my personal addition.
One of the graces that blesses relationships is knowing when to speak and when to keep silent. Recently my third-grade grandson helped me figure this out.
He and I were working at one end of the kitchen. At the other end of the room, his brother and his other grandmother were doing homework. Voices rose, and I chimed in, all the way across the room, with an opinion.
My grandson, standing beside me, quietly pointed out, “Grandma, that isn’t your conversation.”
My know-it-all comment jolted to a halt. “You’re right!” I said to the little guy. “What you just said is so helpful!”
I have since been pondering what is my conversation and what is not. I realized the answer to this question has to do with respect. Respecting others’ conversations means not jumping in uninvited. How totally simple.
In fact it’s so easy, I think I can do it. Apparently what’s required is breaking an old habit.
I like what Mary Baker Eddy says about struggling to do the right thing – that it’s a prayer in action. “The habitual struggle to be always good is unceasing prayer.”
I’m sure I will have plenty of opportunity this coming week to live that prayer!
1 comment:
I loved your grandsons comment: "That's not your conversation." So many times I jump in trying to be "helpful" when I was not asked and it was not my conversation. His point is so well taken. "Out of the mouths of babes....."
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