Learning to speak "kid language"

This post is kind of a follow up to last week.  Using the example of a sprout growing in my bathroom sink, I was trying to illustrate a principle:  We can take any circumstance in our lives, and choose what we want to make it mean.

The circumstances in our lives are all neutral.  They don't feel neutral sometimes, but they are.  The weather, the things that happen around us, other peoples' words or actions, all of those things are neutral.  They just are.  They don't have any effect on us, positive or negative, until we assign some sort of meaning to them.

This is the best news!!  That means that no matter what happens "to" us, or around us, we are always in control of how it affects us.  We are the ones who get to create all the meaning in our lives! This is the ultimate mastery of our God-given agency!

Here are a few lighthearted examples (taken from my journal several years ago) of taking a common circumstance, and choosing to make it mean something positive:

Screaming and arching his back is how Simon says “Thank you, dear Mother, for changing another messy diaper.  And for faithfully applying rash protection.  I know it can’t be much fun for you.”  The more violent the tantrum, the more sincere he is in his gratitude.

When my kids whine about having to put away their clean clothes, what they’re trying to say is “Thanks Mom, for buying our clothes, and then washing them and folding them neatly.”

The gagging noises at the dinner table were a special way of saying “Thank you for making sure we never go hungry, and that we eat healthy meals together as a family.”

And when someone, who did not want to re-do his chores until they were done right, yelled “This is the worst day of my life!”  I heard “I’ve had a pretty great life so far!  Thanks, Mom.”

It’s a good thing I speak their language.

Christi