February 1 - Alyssa began one of the value experiences in the Individual Worth category for Personal Progress that suggests the girls to:
Read Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 and 121:45. Do all you can to build others and make them feel of worth. Every day for two weeks notice the worthwhile qualities and attributes of others. Acknowledge them verbally or in writing. In your journal write what you have learned about the worth of individuals and how your own confidence grows when you build others.
It was so fun at first. She left me 1 heart each day hidden in an unexpected location, with a sweet note written on the back; "Thank you for helping me with my family history," "Thank you for coordinating my babysitting job," "I liked your stew," " You made me feel good about myself by noticing my skirt." Well, that lasted about four days. Then days and days went by and I was sad that they stopped. I made a comment one day and her reply was to the effect of; "well, you should be excited that I am going above and beyond the required 14 days, I am going to do 29 days. So, hastily she tried dumping off a few hearts with no personal note on the back, but later I gave them back noting that they were missing the personalization. I found out later 'she really got me," because she ripped them up. OOPS... Well, Valentine's Day came and went. No hearts. :( A few days later she picked back up and I got notes like, "Thank you for helping me not pin myself to death," "Thank you for the love crunch cereal," "Thank you for running with me," & "I admire your hard work."
But then days went by and the month of February ended, March came and I found one on my birthday, "Happy Birthday." I may have found a few others in March.
I began to give up and asked her if I should throw the pile away that was missing letters, or how long should I plan for this project to last? Finally, last week, she made a huge play for the goal and dumped a bunch on me in one day... this was getting fun again.
Today, I guess I am sad to say, she had me check off her value experience. I had to figure out the letter scramble and boy, was I humbled by the message. I no longer cared that it took her 39 days longer than she originally planned. It is another lesson learned for me that I am the reason this took so long. I hindered her from being able to deliver her loving message to me, while I took away the spirit of love in all my nagging. I SOOOOO loved finding hearts in random locations all these days and admire her for the sincere notes she took the time to write to me. I want a do-over...I need to do it over, I need to do better. I wish I could receive this display of love every day of the year, in fact, now that I know how good it feels, I better take the next 68 days or every day for the next 5 years to return the love she shared with me. Thank you dear daughter.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.