I'M IMPORTANT

"How you or people see you, isn't comparable to how God sees you." - Unknown

This conversation takes place between a teacher and a pupil:

Teacher: "Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn’t have ten years ago."

Winnie: "Me."

What a revelation. Steve Jobs, once said. "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."

If you have ever had the misfortune of losing a piece of any puzzle, you will understand the importance of every piece: though each piece, in itself might be oddly shaped, and seem no good for anything else on it's own without it, you have an incomplete, no good, and useless puzzle. That's how YOU are, in the puzzle called life. Your voice, and input counts.

THE GIFT OF FAMILY (7); FAMILY, A PERFECT IMPERFECTION

"The love of family and the admiration of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege." - Charles Kuralt

According to a wise man, family is everything. And its very fundamental that a child grows up in an atmosphere where he can really feel; not only the physical presence of his parents but the love between them. This unconsciously makes the child aware of how things are supposed to be done, and when he grows old, he'll have pattern, a prototype to work by.

Here's a story. When I was a kid, my Mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made dinner after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my Mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all dad did was reached for his biscuit, smile at my Mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don’t remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!
When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I’ll never forget what he said: “Honey, I love burned biscuits.” Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, “Your mommy put in a hard day at work today and she’s real tired. And besides – a little burned biscuit never hurt anyone!”

A family is full of imperfect people; we all aren't perfect yet. We're not the best at hardly anything individually just like everyone else, but together we make a perfect blend. Over the years you'll realize that learning to accept each others faults – and choosing to overlook them sometimes  – is one important way to creating a healthy, viable and lasting family relationships. This is the kind of environment a child should grow.