Friday, October 28, 2011

Days of Beauty: Listen to Little Ideas


I wish this wasn't true - but so often I hear myself explaining why a certain suggestion or idea offered by a young member of my family won't work. Lately I've found myself more aware of their ideas and trying very hard to try something if I can!

Saying no is so easy - it takes less time, energy, adjusting, flexibility. But, can't that get discouraging after a while?

It seems that once I try one idea it is easier to try the next and the next. When a child asks for a certain thing for dinner - if I don't have the things on hand to do it that night, I can make it a point of serving that very soon.

Some ideas that have come up in our house lately:

"Can we have chili for supper?"

"Can we go to the boat landing and lay down on a blanket and look at the stars?"

"Can we make sprinkle donuts?"

"Can I share one of these donuts with our neighbor?"

We've made all of these happen so far except for the star gazing. And, that one is forefront in my mind to make it happen very soon! None of these things was earth shattering. None took a whole lot of extra time.

In the case of the donuts, I was making them anyway (recipe here) and had never tried them with sprinkles before - but really, why not? By the way, they were so good!

I am an idea person and ideas are beauty to me. Carrying them out is even more beauty. What if that is true for my children as well and I'm saying no to their ideas? It is extinguishing beauty in their lives.

Giving credit to the Holy Spirit for the inner prompting - I'm saying yes to more ideas. And, guess what? It is adding beauty to my life too!

3 comments:

angie said...

I'm realizing that I have said "no" so many times that my kids don't ask nearly as often anymore. :( I could blame it on lack of time, but I know in my heart that I have the choice to make their requests a priority. With school, homework, and lots of extra activities, I must be deliberate with the time that remains. Thank you for allowing the Holy Spirit to convict you, and me.

~katie~ said...

I learn from my children everyday and have been thinking on this, how much I say "no" or "not now". I agree that must be very discouraging. One of my goals is to bring out the talents and gifts in my children, and I don't want to hinder that in any way. I realize I need to be sensitive to their interests and desires and seize these opportunities to help my little ones grow not only in their love of learning but in their love for the Lord. Love this post!

Bevy @ Treasured Up and Pondered said...

I love this...

thank you (again) for the reminder to be more of a "yes"mom!!

I'm continuing to work on this too.;)