Becoming Human 4: Making People Glad

Today was supposed to be a happy day for her, but right then it didn’t feel like it at all. The fun of church and friends was over, but her birthday party with Grandpa’s and the cousins wasn’t starting for a long time yet. Nobody at that moment seemed to care that she was turning six today. It was just a boring Sunday afternoon and everyone else in the house was fine with doing quiet Sunday stuff. Not her.

I sent her to sit with her Daddy when the discontent inside spilled out (again) in unkindness to her brother. But it’s hard to snuggle with even the best Daddy when the whole world feels bad.  When you’re bored and impatient and don’t want to do anything at all, because the one thing you want to do most you can’t do. I know the feeling well. And I know how it can deeply it can settle in for her and me.

I knew lecturing or scolding wouldn’t do any good and even helping her see where she hurt her brother and having her apologize would go only so far. So I brought her a clipboard (doesn’t hurt to make it grown up and official) and wrote on the top with a purple pencil (purple can’t hurt either) I Can Make People Glad. I put the numbers one through five down the side; I gave it to her and her Daddy and told her he could help her figure out how to fill it in.

Five minutes later she was happily scrubbing the toilet to help me out, and when that was done she cleaned up her room. Daddy helped her fill in her list and made number three on the list smiling because there were just so many smiles and how could that not make us glad?

Sometimes the best way to become the human you were meant to be is to do thing the thing that gets you out of being stuck in your head. Sometimes making other people glad is what will give you the most joy.

(No, I’m not a wonder parent, and no, my parenting efforts don’t always work that well.)

4 Comments

  1. this is so true! what a precious gift to be teaching your daughter… (also I’m quite enjoying this series and all the truth within – God has been bringing me on a journey of these very same topics in the last few years)

    1. Thanks for commenting, Charis. I’m always interested in stories and would love to hear sometime if there were defining events, people, or books that played big parts in that journey.

      I’m so sorry that your comment got stuck in my spam folder. I thought I was keeping an eye on that. Any more comments from you should come through without needing approval.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *