"Be completely humble and gentle..."
A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel. - Proverbs 15:18
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. - Romans 12:12
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. - Ephesians 4:2
I've been home for over 24 hours now ... and slept for more than 12 of them. I got up at 0515 Maryland time on Friday morning, got to the airport, and ended up buying 2 books at the Borders' store there - Blue Like Jazz and The Five Love Languages. HIGHLY recommend either of them to anyone. I'm only 100 pages or so into BLJ, but it's awesome. I read T5LL first, and managed to finish it (it's about 200 pages) before even getting on the plane at BWI. I'll get into that more specifically in a minute. So, plane was delayed, flew home, Mom ended up picking me up at the airport (a surprise), drove to Dad's office, lunch, drove home (pretty car ... not mine yet but hopefully it will be - savannah (gold) colored 4x4 RAV4 ...), helped bring stuff down for Falcon Fiesta, shower, dinner, ice cream, graduation, home, sleep ... till like noon. I was so tired. I also think part of it was that I kind of wanted to get away from everyone. Anyways. About that book.
I've been talking to Sandy and Kurt about how I want to improve my relationship with my mom. I don't like how we fight and I basically feel like sometimes you have to walk on eggshells around her so that no one ends up getting angry. And Sandy was talking a little about this book, The Five Love Languages ... but she'd loaned it to Colleen. Anyways, I'd heard about it before, mostly because Colleen had in turn loaned it to Heather who had talked non-stop about it, and because we've discussed it a bit before - Heather and I, or Colleen and I, or whatever. So I was somewhat familiar with it. In any case, I saw it at the bookstore and figured that either 1. it wouldn't hurt to read it since I had time to wait anyways or 2. it was there for a reason; an answer to prayer so to speak. So I picked it up, got some coffee, and started reading. I think I've learned some things. For one thing, I think my primary love language is Quality Time, with Physical Touch nearly equal and then Words of Affirmation a somewhat-close third. Acts of Service and Gifts are really low, in comparison. It explains why when I'm angry I want to be alone - and yet secretly want people to seek me out and spend time with me. And it explains why I will fight or whatever with my room mates, the guys who come over to the Parsons', Kurt, etc. On a positive note, it explains why I like hanging out with little kids ... who you can cuddle with, talk to, just be with. Words of Affirmation counts too - but only if I already respect/trust the person. For instance, I still remember when Brian has said that he's proud of me for one thing or another, and that means a lot. As for Acts of Service and Gifts ... not my thing, so much.
So, once I had that pretty figured out, I started thinking about what love language my mom was. And I had no idea where to even start. I have no idea what makes her happy. But I started thinking about it... what bothers her. And it's things that we do, usually. And she likes to get things for us ... clothes and stuff, gifts for people. And there was the whole Christmas gift thing a couple of years ago. So, I think her two main love languages (Acts of Service and Gifts) are my two weakest. Which would explain a lot. This is going to be a challenge, but at least I'm seeking God, and I think He's revealing things to me ... I want to hear His voice. So I'll keep seeking. For now, going to go help with dinner.
Seeking,
Michele
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. - Romans 12:12
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. - Ephesians 4:2
I've been home for over 24 hours now ... and slept for more than 12 of them. I got up at 0515 Maryland time on Friday morning, got to the airport, and ended up buying 2 books at the Borders' store there - Blue Like Jazz and The Five Love Languages. HIGHLY recommend either of them to anyone. I'm only 100 pages or so into BLJ, but it's awesome. I read T5LL first, and managed to finish it (it's about 200 pages) before even getting on the plane at BWI. I'll get into that more specifically in a minute. So, plane was delayed, flew home, Mom ended up picking me up at the airport (a surprise), drove to Dad's office, lunch, drove home (pretty car ... not mine yet but hopefully it will be - savannah (gold) colored 4x4 RAV4 ...), helped bring stuff down for Falcon Fiesta, shower, dinner, ice cream, graduation, home, sleep ... till like noon. I was so tired. I also think part of it was that I kind of wanted to get away from everyone. Anyways. About that book.
I've been talking to Sandy and Kurt about how I want to improve my relationship with my mom. I don't like how we fight and I basically feel like sometimes you have to walk on eggshells around her so that no one ends up getting angry. And Sandy was talking a little about this book, The Five Love Languages ... but she'd loaned it to Colleen. Anyways, I'd heard about it before, mostly because Colleen had in turn loaned it to Heather who had talked non-stop about it, and because we've discussed it a bit before - Heather and I, or Colleen and I, or whatever. So I was somewhat familiar with it. In any case, I saw it at the bookstore and figured that either 1. it wouldn't hurt to read it since I had time to wait anyways or 2. it was there for a reason; an answer to prayer so to speak. So I picked it up, got some coffee, and started reading. I think I've learned some things. For one thing, I think my primary love language is Quality Time, with Physical Touch nearly equal and then Words of Affirmation a somewhat-close third. Acts of Service and Gifts are really low, in comparison. It explains why when I'm angry I want to be alone - and yet secretly want people to seek me out and spend time with me. And it explains why I will fight or whatever with my room mates, the guys who come over to the Parsons', Kurt, etc. On a positive note, it explains why I like hanging out with little kids ... who you can cuddle with, talk to, just be with. Words of Affirmation counts too - but only if I already respect/trust the person. For instance, I still remember when Brian has said that he's proud of me for one thing or another, and that means a lot. As for Acts of Service and Gifts ... not my thing, so much.
So, once I had that pretty figured out, I started thinking about what love language my mom was. And I had no idea where to even start. I have no idea what makes her happy. But I started thinking about it... what bothers her. And it's things that we do, usually. And she likes to get things for us ... clothes and stuff, gifts for people. And there was the whole Christmas gift thing a couple of years ago. So, I think her two main love languages (Acts of Service and Gifts) are my two weakest. Which would explain a lot. This is going to be a challenge, but at least I'm seeking God, and I think He's revealing things to me ... I want to hear His voice. So I'll keep seeking. For now, going to go help with dinner.
Seeking,
Michele