Finding the beautiful
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at 12:06PM | Amy Pendergraft I had such a lovely morning hanging with some incredible women and talking about all the things that absorb the minds of young mommies...sleep, potty times, showers, and the dailies. In this conversation one of these awesome moms was sharing her struggles with life in West LA. She shared about her difficult transition here and how she can't connect at all. She said that no one returned her hellos at the grocery store or smiled at her and that people are generally not very nice. I was a bit confused because my experiences at the grocery store have been so different. As I was driving home and then got to my computer I have been thinking about why?
Then it struck me: we usually find what we're looking for.
We can go into the grocery store and if we're looking for poeple that are mean, busy or just self - involved we will find them. However, I think if we look for people that are smiling and generally content I think we can find them too. My beautiful friend knows this and even said that she's going to change her focus to celebrate the small victories she feels here on this side of the continent and yet I continue to think on it.
What about my life, my home and most important: my parenting! What am I looking for when I am spending time with my children or just observing them. Am I looking for the ways that they are exceptional, beautiful and reflecting God's glory or am I looking critically at them for weaknesses or things we need to "work on."
Jesus looked at the disciples and instead of seeing a group of misfit fisherman that were very slow to understand the truth. He saw a group of men that would be the bedrock of our church. He saw men that would carry the torch when He was gone. That would point the world to Him and His works.
What if we parented like Christ did with the disciples. What if our parenting was marked by seeking the beautiful in our children's lives. What if we were mommies that celbrated those tiny victories of a please, thank you, picking up a toy or a generous heart toward a sibling. What if we searched their personalities for the beautiful traits and told them the ways that God has uniquely crafted them for His work. I think our children would blossom. I think we would see more that is beautiful and the cycle would continue. It could be a relationship changing event.
So for a week, lets try this experiment and let me know how it works for your family! It's a treasure hunt for the beautiful starting now...
