Thursday, March 5, 2009

Shine On

For some reason I've been thinking about a book I remember reading and liking as a little kid. I don't know the name of it, but its message has stayed with me.

Here are the basics of the story. The sun and wind have a type of bet going on to see which of them can get a man at a park to take off his jacket first. The wind is convinced if it blows hard enough and uses all its forceful strength it can whip the jacket right off the guy. The sun, on the other hand knows that if it just does what its designed to do, shine its rays, it will warm the man enough where he'll want to shed his coat. Well, no surprise -- the sun wins. The man bundles his jacket tighter around himself as the wind barrels in and he gets hot when the sun shines down causing him to remove his coat.

The moral of the story is about being kind to others and not forceful towards them and you'll see results. I'm all for killing people with kindness. I do that with a nice concoction of boundaries. I try to find the healthy blend of the two. I'm pretty sure the story stuck with me though because far too many people try to force others to see things the way they do. Far too many people project, displace and throw up their anger on others hoping to see results. The visuals in this book are so simple, yet powerful. Shine upon others warmth, grace, forgiveness and you are more apt to see them respond to you.

I know this doesn't always work and that's when the boundaries part comes in. There is a time and place to shine perhaps upon someone else and leave those who can't respect you in the shade for a time. I pray for clarity on this one a lot.

I often gravitate towards books, authors, movies, TV shows, and philosophic thinking that is convoluted and complex and I'm always refreshed when a simple thought produces stunning truth to me.

This book did that for me as a little kid and is still doing that today.

Home Life:

  • Just a few weeks ago I was reading Max Lucado's, You Are Special (another simple book with profound truth) to my girls and as I was reading it I began to cry. One of my girls had brought it over to me to read and I remember thinking to myself, 'Oh, this will be a great teaching moment'. Little did I realize as I continued reading, I was being reminded of where I need to seek validation and affirmation. I was the one being taught.
  • I like the jeans I have on today ($16 from TJ Maxx).
  • I love discussing with my children all the possibilities of what they want to be when they grow up...so far I've heard: principal, teacher, artist, writer, doctor, and picker...kind of wondering what a picker does?

Shine On......

1 comment:

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