Happy Friday Friends!
I hope & trust this post finds you all having a great day as this beautiful new day prepares to dawn! Additionally, I hope you have had a great week, personally & professionally.
When I write my family a note in the morning I always say, amongst other things, "Please love, respect, honor & protect each other today." Nice words, definitely something to try to accomplish however, what exactly do I mean when I say that and what does it look like?
A couple of weeks ago my Tender Warriors and I were putting up our Christmas lights. After several "false starts" and additional trips (note plural!) to the store, we were finally getting started. After I had put up about 15' of lights, I was moving the ladder when a corner of the ladder caught the end of the light strand and all the lights came down together. I have to admit, it looked absolutely hilarious! By this time I am irritated, very irritated. I ask my Warriors to please stop laughing and making jokes, to please help me and that I tell them I am feeling very irritated & agitated. And being the perfect kids they are they immediately stopped and did what I asked...Nah!!! They laughed & giggled some more - they are human and it was funny! You can kind of guess how it went from there for the next few minutes!
On the way to the store - yes again!! And please quit laughing!! - we did have a little talk. Thank goodness this talk was God-inspired instead of Kev-inspired. I told them it was in fact funny however I spoke about our motto to "love, respect, honor & protect each other" every day. I went on to explain that even if my irritation & agitation was wrong or misplaced, they had the opportunity to "love, respect, honor & protect" me, even if it is from myself. They really did seem to get what I was trying to convey to them, or more appropriately, what God was trying to tell them through me. I have thought about that talk, about the motto to "love, respect, honor & protect each other" every day and the realization that though they have read those words hundreds of times, I have never clarified what those words mean to me when I speak them to them. This morning I want to drill down on that a little bit. I guess this is really a guide to the Haslam family on what it means to "love, respect, honor & protect each other" however I do hope there is some part(s) of all this that you and your family can glean from it.
The first premise I want to establish is that our family, our home, needs to be a safe place. We live in a broken, mean world where people are constantly trying to tear one another down simply because we are different from them. We all need a place where we know we are loved, where we are safe to be us, where we are safe to hope & dream, where we are not judged & ridiculed for our thoughts, where we are encouraged & empowered to pursue the greatness that God has placed inside of each one of us. When I pray the prayer, "God, break my heart for what breaks yours," it is this, that every child doesn't have the opportunity to grow up in this place I have described, that truly breaks my heart. We are truly blessed to be able to have this type of home...we need to appreciate this blessing and fight for it constantly.
So let me share a few thoughts about "love, respect, honor & protect":
Love
- Genuinely care about the other person.
- Seek & find their positive qualities and help them see the greatness that is within them.
- Be selfless; serve others and their needs.
- Be there; celebrate their successes, encourage them in their failures...be who & what they
need you to be.
Respect
- Realize, just like you, their life has great value, meaning & purpose.
- Genuinely appreciate the uniqueness of each one of us.
- Validate their thoughts & feelings; just like yours, they matter.
- Because they think or see something different than you doesn't mean their wrong; respect
their right to have their views just as you have the same right. We can agree to disagree.
Honor
- Believe in the greatness & goodness of others, even if they don't look, act or think like you.
- Lift others up, be interested in their life journey, encourage & empower their purpose.
- Value them as a perfect creation of God, created on purpose, for a purpose, lacking
nothing.
- Don't run around talking behind their back, gossiping, etc. If you really have an issue, talk
to them and try to get it resolved, respectfully.
- Care about what they care about.
Protect
- If someone or something is a danger, harming or about to harm them, protect them.
- Sometimes we have to protect each other from ourselves; love one another enough to speak
up & take action when our thoughts, words and/or actions could harm us.
My opening premise is that our home needs to be a safe place. My closing premise is that we must never stop fighting for our family, for one another. I am not your enemy and you are not mine. Life can be hard, their are challenges & struggles. I am committed to fighting for you, for our family and will continue to do so until I breathe my final breath. You can either fight with me or against me however know that I will not stop fighting for you, for our family regardless of what you choose to do.
Our Home Will Be A Safe Place
Love
Respect
Honor
Protect
Fight For Each Other, For Our Family
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for any of you or your families. I will always help you any way I can.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.
Kev
P.S. Only 21 days until Christmas! :)
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