Pearls of Wisdom

Well it's a ridiculous hour to be up, but here I sit. My head was throbbing all evening and apparently through the night stealing my sleep from me. So I finally gave up and took a hot bath to see if I could get it to go away. As I laid in the hot water my mind went back in time and took me to little pearls of wisdom that my Dad spoke to me while growing up. I had to smile at the many of them that I have taken to heart and have handed down to my children. Here are just a few:


People only think about you a small fraction of the amount that you think they do. Now what he meant by this is that we sometimes believe that someone cares about what we said, or what we wore, etc., but the truth is THEY are worried about what they said, or what they wore, way more. It's the nature of the beast. I tell my boys this when they are making too much of something, and it's good to remind myself of these things after I have done or said something that was humiliating....hehehe


My Dad was a firm believer of a schedule and getting up early. I wasn't crazy about this when I was younger, but us girls obeyed it, of course. To this day, in all the years that I have been raising my boys I have them get up at 7am, except on weekends. Even though we have homeschooled the majority of their lives I believed in training them the way they should go. After all, I want my boys to be used to getting up each and every morning for work as they get older, and this way they won't miss what they never had. (This rule doesn't apply to sickness and such, needless to say.)



He also encouraged us girls to attack our fears head on. If we were nervous about something, just get it over with. He said he struggled with this and that he found it to be the best way. I agree, although as a teen I hated it. However, rarely are you worse off for any experience that you try to stretch yourself.


There was a firm belief in the tithe. He said that he believed that you would be blessed for it. Give, even if you don't think you truly can, that is when God can and will truly bless you.


I was taught that real and authentic love will be very forgiving. Not blind, not foolish, but forgiving.


I remember him saying, a few times, that if you have enough CLOSE friends to count on an entire hand at the end of your life that you would be blessed. He said as a teenager you think that everyone will be your friend for the rest of your adulthood, but as life goes on your true ones, your confidantes, are rare and difficult to count on one hand. Although I believe that we, the brethren, have a rare and special relationship with each other, I know that the people that I call when I need to pour my heart out to, personally, are few.


Which leads me to the other pearl. Take special care of those relationships. They are worth their weight in gold. Let them know you love them, often. I try to do exactly that.


What pearls do you have? Share them with the rest of us.