This morning, I was ironing a shirt for Kade to wear tonight for his choir concert (yes, he is in choir...no, he doesn't like it). As I was ironing, a story that my sister-in-law told me the night before Joe's dad's funeral hit me full throttle. She told me about my father-in-law's wife, Sue, saying that she had ironed Jack's shirt that he would be buried in 5 times. Why? Because she wanted to cherish "getting to" iron his shirt for him for the last time.
I have reflected on this story so many times over the last 10 days, so when it hit me again this morning, I thought it needed sharing. It has made me think of being in a mindset of cherishing the things I "get to" do for the people I care about versus seeing things as a chore. It's so easy in this selfish world we live in to get caught up in the "what's in it for me?" mentality.
But as I think of Sue's sentiments, I can tell you what's in it for me. It's knowing that my family feels cared for. It's when the boys have brought home papers listing what they are thankful for & mentioning that Mom washes their uniforms. It's the security my children have in knowing that if their team needs a place to have dinner, our door is open.
The kids don't throw a parade of gratitude for these things (which I totally do not expect), but every once in awhile, something comes up in general conversation that reminds me that these things don't go unnoticed. Just recently when Joe was out of town, Kameryn came upstairs & brought me milk in bed (Joe is always doing this for me without me asking). She said, "Since Dad's not here, I thought I'd step in." Not only do the things we do for our children not go unnoticed, but also the things we do for each other.
I guess this grieving process has me evaluating a lot of things in my life. This story continues to put a lump in my throat. I'm sorry for the times I've grumbled at having to do for others. I pray that I would do things for my family with a happy heart, cherishing them as opportunities to show that I care & that I am here.
I have reflected on this story so many times over the last 10 days, so when it hit me again this morning, I thought it needed sharing. It has made me think of being in a mindset of cherishing the things I "get to" do for the people I care about versus seeing things as a chore. It's so easy in this selfish world we live in to get caught up in the "what's in it for me?" mentality.
But as I think of Sue's sentiments, I can tell you what's in it for me. It's knowing that my family feels cared for. It's when the boys have brought home papers listing what they are thankful for & mentioning that Mom washes their uniforms. It's the security my children have in knowing that if their team needs a place to have dinner, our door is open.
The kids don't throw a parade of gratitude for these things (which I totally do not expect), but every once in awhile, something comes up in general conversation that reminds me that these things don't go unnoticed. Just recently when Joe was out of town, Kameryn came upstairs & brought me milk in bed (Joe is always doing this for me without me asking). She said, "Since Dad's not here, I thought I'd step in." Not only do the things we do for our children not go unnoticed, but also the things we do for each other.
I guess this grieving process has me evaluating a lot of things in my life. This story continues to put a lump in my throat. I'm sorry for the times I've grumbled at having to do for others. I pray that I would do things for my family with a happy heart, cherishing them as opportunities to show that I care & that I am here.
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you
did, but people will never forget how you made them feel". ~Maya Angelou
2 comments:
Thanks for this great post today Dardi - a great perspective and it really struck a chord with me today for some reason :)
Oh, the blessings and privileges we have by sharing life with each other. How often my tiredness and selfishness leads me to believe that I'm the one that is deserving. And I love that your daughter brought you milk!
I need to go iron a white shirt for a concert tonight...thanks for the reminder!
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