More Wise Flo Advice: Flo’s brother and
sister-in-law always told their three sons “Stop
and Think. Don’t make us as parents ashamed of you…ashamed of your actions.”
Those three young men have grown up to be caring and responsible adults. Now as
their parents have reached the elder age, the sons are taking care of their
parents in very concrete ways like painting their home and doing the household
repairs that Dad can no longer do by himself. Those young men have always been
polite and a joy to Aunt Flo.
I would like to think that I never made my
parents ashamed of me…but my Mom did tell me once that I was their
“challenging” child. I had friends who challenged me to smoke a cigarette at
16.
I smoked it…right in front of my parents trying to be accepted by those
friends and to defy my parents. I didn’t take up smoking, though I did try a
few more cigarettes I never did smoke a whole pack. So much for being a rebellious
child.
Being the second daughter, when my parents were expecting a son, I was
always trying to live up to something I wasn’t. I wasn’t the person they wanted…although
they got two sons later. There was constantly an underlying competition because I wasn’t
as smart, talented or as beautiful as my older sister, although we were still
friends. We had to be friends since the nearest other kids to play with were
almost a mile away. The competition for the best grades in school made me study
hard. I wanted to be the best so that my parents would approve of me…so I
wouldn’t be an embarrassment to them. They were pretty proud of me when they
came to see me get my Master’s Degree. I guess that I finally made it in their
eyes. I was not snuffed out in total darkness—in fact I think I was glowing…and
so were they. Jesus is the light of my life and without His encouragement I
would not have gone to college or even be writing this blog. May you also find
encouragement through a relationship with Jesus in your life.
Prayer
~ Jesus, help my family, friend, neighbors and all those we with whom we come in
contact feel Your love and encouraging acceptance. Everyone needs love.
Everyone needs to be accepted within their family and in a circle of friends.
Thank you for loving each of us so much that You are creating a home for us
there in Heaven…and that we can each have a relationship with You here and now,
no matter where we are.
© 2016 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT)
unless otherwise noted.
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