From the very beginning of her adult life—as a wife and a mother—my mom made the conscious decision to be kind. Every day. No matter what.
I am so grateful for her decision because it could have turned out so differently. My mom was raised by parents who were wonderful in many ways—but her mother was quite critical. So my mom determined that she would not be. She decided that with her husband and with her children, she would have a soft heart and kind words and a truly loving demeanor. And she did. It was a conscious decision every day to be the type of person God was calling her to be with her family. Although there must have been moments she felt like she failed, my brother and I simply don’t remember them. Because overall, she overcame what could have been a destructive pattern from her mother and has truly been a person of loving kindness.
I am immensely inspired by this—especially since I know that I have not always made it easy for her to maintain that approach toward me! (I wince at the thought of my teenage years!) And yet she stuck with that choice. I think about how different a person I could have been if my mom had responded with a critical spirit rather than a kind one. I know for me as a mom, I struggle many days with an exasperated, stressed, bossy demeanor even though my kids are wonderful. How much harder would it be for me as a mom if I had not grown up with my mom’s amazing example?
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