Make Your Family Relationships Special
How do you feel about your family relationships? Does the thought bring a warm sensation and awe? Or, do you need to make a trip to the family improvement store (not Lowes or Home Depot). A simple way to make your family members feel special is to use words of praise and spend quality time at home.
I took note when a speaker said, “I told all my children that they are my favorite son/daughter, and I asked them not to tell his/her brothers and sisters.”I’m not sure if I could pull this one off since my kids were in the same audience. The principal is key to making your relationships special. All my kids and especially my spouse should feel that they are my favorite.
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” Proverb
When I choose words of praise and admiration if fills up the love bank of my wife and kids. On the contrary, when I neglect praise or encouragement my relationship suffers. Or even worse, a few mean words cause a lot of pain that is not easily if at all ever repaired. You may have heard the tale of the poor man who went to a wise man to ask what he can do to take back his words that caused pain. The wise man asked him to take chicken feathers and spread them all over the city streets then return for more instructions. So the discouraged man spread the feathers up and down the street and returned to the wise man. Upon his arrival the wise man said, “Now go back and pick up all the feathers.” His reply was, “That is not impossible, the wind has blown I can not find the feathers.”
My daughter is great at improving relationships. At the age of three she dedicated her first ‘Daddy song’ to me. She sat at her electronic keyboard and pressed the keys while making a melody with her small vocabulary. And when she sung ‘Daddy’ she looked right at me with a big smile. Her tune was not fundamentally professional, but was at the top of my chart. It’s the words that make us feel the best that we remember the most.
Your are the best entertainer for your family, not even the best dog and pony show would compare to your devoted presence in the lives of your son, daughter or spouse. Keep it simple, just be there, listen, choose the best words to speak into the lives of your loved ones. Your family will remember the times you spent with them and how you loved them far more than they remember your failures.
Bookmark to:
September 9th, 2006 at 9:08 am
Unfortunately, I now have to think of my family as two separate families. There is MY family (my husband and children) and they bring me the warmest, most joyful feeling I’ve ever know. They amaze and lift me. They are miracles. Then there’s my “other” family. The one I grew up in. I believe that one is beyond repair, but when I am finally able to forgive, maybe something will be reconnected. As of now, it’s just too painful. They’ve hurt me too severly. It’s better to not have them in my life at this point. I pray for direction and hope this may one day change, but for now, this is how things must be.
September 9th, 2006 at 11:34 am
I hope and pray for reconciliation at the right time, I do not think any family is totally without some brokenness. My immediate family [spouse and children] I call my family circle. My wife and I compose the inner circle. We do our best to not let anyone break inside our inner circle, even our children. Likewise, we do not let anyone outside our family circle get between our children and us.
My understanding is that a leaving and cleaving action helps marriages and families stick together. We love our extended family and do our best to find ways to honor our parents with our words; and love our brothers and sisters. In all wisdom, and as a parent, it is best to tend to the needs of the immediate family first. I think most extended family members respect the efforts of their son, daughter or siblings striving to be the best parent they can be.