Laura and I attend a Parent/Toddler gymnastics class each week, which we both truly enjoy. I get to hang out with a bunch of moms and LB gets to run around for an hour playing on fun stuff.
Today a small encounter happened that has stuck with me and after replaying it in my mind I wish I had reacted differently. (For those of you that attended Wiregrass Church on Sunday, you'll know what I'm talking about).
LB was being very sweet today and to one girl in particular. At one point the mom leaned over to me and said, "Laura has the sweetest disposition." In that single instant it takes to respond several different thoughts ran through my mind.
1) huh, well you didn't see her last week when she threw a fit in the parking lot and we almost didn't make it to gymnastics
2) she is being sweet....today
3) she just likes your daughter
But what came out of my mouth is what I would like to go back and change. I said, "Well, she's not always like this."
Looking back, I wonder, was that false humility? Did I respond that way to downplay the comparison she seemed to be making to the way her own daughter was acting?
Why couldn't I respond with a simple smile and a thank you. Because now as I reflect I am thanking the Lord for a wonderful day with my sweet daughter and praying that the truly sweet disposition that LB exhibited not just at gymnastics, but pretty much all day is a true observation - a thumbprint of God. I would be proud to know, not in a boastful way, but in a honored parent kind of way that this is in fact one of God's thumbprint's on LB.
Thank you Lord for Laura's sweet disposition. May you cultivate and develop the behavior she exhibited today so that she honors not me, but you Lord, with sweet words and actions all the days of her life.
I understand completely what you are talking about and always struggle with how to "accept" those compliments. I often have the exact same 3 thoughts run through my head. Thanks for putting words to it and giving me a different perspective on it.
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