First, you have to know that I have come by this particular flaw in my personality rightly. My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother all had this flaw and sadly, it has been passed on to all three of my children. I have struggled with this my entire life.
It first became apparent after we lived in “the mission field.” When sometimes my brother and sister and I were the only children in the branch and we attended Sunday School together with one adult teaching us; when if we didn’t contribute there was no contribution; when there was no peer pressure telling us it wasn’t cool to know the answer. There were times we traveled 1 or 2 hours just to have the privilege of attending meetings in a chapel, that was in the days when Sunday School was in the morning and Sacrament was at night. You were supposed to have the opportunity to go home between, have lunch and a nap. We took our lunch with us and went to the park, sitting on a quilt, eating sandwiches and napping, while our Dad attended Branch Presidency meetings. It was a time when we had Sacrament and Sunday School in our home and, with the blessings of the Church were allowed to pass the sacrament in the living room. So, how did my flaw become apparent? We moved to Utah, where having the Gospel in your life every day was ho-hum. I went to my first Sunday School class and began raising my hand to answer the questions and soon found out “that was not cool.” Follow this with a life-time of living, learning, experiencing, grieving, making mistakes, repenting and trying to be who my Heavenly Father wants me to be.
Now, that I have excused myself, let me confess:
I have something to say about EVERYTHING. It was confirmed how annoying this is by facial expression and e-mail replies within the last 24 hours sufficient to make me, once again, put this at the top of my self-improvement list.
- It is not necessary to comment every time a comment comes to mind. Not everyone is interested in my personal experiences. Young women, in particular, are bored with the fact that everything they are experiencing—I have already been through and can give advice on or have an opinion on; my husband can be completely right and it is not necessary that I point out when he is not; and finally, when my children need to talk, all that is required of me is to listen.
So, my personal self-improvement is to try harder, once again, to keep my mouth shut and let someone else give the advice and have the opinions for the day.
4 comments:
Sandi - I think you got this one wrong! I find it comforting when you have commented on everyone's blogs. You encourage all of younguns (is that how you spell that word?) in our mothering efforts. You teach us and keep us going. Plus, I find your wisdom refreshing and welcome. I feel the same about the other women in our circles who have more experience than I do. Your advice and thoughts bring me focus and wisdom. In fact, as I was at the meeting last night, I was thinking that I wish I had your knowledge and perspectives. At least weekly, I am reminded how perfectly suited you are for the things you are doing right now. So keep your comments coming! We need them!
Amen to Ashlee's comments. I am just getting caught up on reading your blog Sandi so haven't commented in a while. I have the same "problem" you do...and often don't know when the Spirit is prompting me to speak up and when I'm just being opinionated.
But, I always love what you have to say and appreciate your different perspective.
P.S. LOVE your new profile pic--so cute!
Sandi, I was wondering whether to put my blog private so those that really cared about what I wrote also wouldn't care HOW I wrote. But my daughter convinced me to leave it, because, Hey, if people don't want our opinion or don't want to read what we have to say or write, well then........they won't. We need to remember why we write what we write and usually that is for ourselves and our families. We are all entitled to our own inspiration and feelings. Keep writing, listening, and most important...loving.
In case you were wondering...I always love another opinion! Feel free to share you thoughts with me anytime! Although I think we have the same problem. I'm still surprised I have a tongue with the amount of times I bitten it! Mind you the opinions were scrolling through my head...ugh.
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