You Can Change the Way You Listen

Lynn Johnston has done it again!

Thank you Lynn for including Shannon in your strip. She is a wonderful addition and her message today to the kids who tease her is one all people should be wise to remember not only for people with disabililties, but for people who are less educated and people learning the language as well.

I am reminded of an African immigrant my mother and I encountered working at a local pizza take-out a few years ago. He told the story of people's impatience as he attempted to speak to them in English, which was his third language. If people changed the way they listened they would realize that here was a person who felt privileged to be in the US and was attempting to learn our language as a way to assimilate. These are the same people who are angered when Hispanic immigrants refuse to learn English.

If we all changed the way we listen to one another, perhaps we would find a better way to get along with one another. And as parents, we would set a better example for our children.

Cruelty

How do we teach our children to be kind, compassionate and caring people?

Do we read them stories of Jesus? Do we take them with us when we perform charitable acts? Do we speak kind words to friends, strangers and enemies alike? Do we model being this kind of person every day of our lives?

Pretty much you have to do all that and more.

Today I saw this. And I thank Lynn Johnston for being so open about how people who are different in any way continue to be treated.

My goal as a mother is not just to raise my own kind, caring and compassionate children, but to be a model of this to other children and adults as well. I hope that the children I raise here at home will be examples all their lives of how to treat others. It's a tall order, but the more of us parents that do it, the sooner our world will change....for the better.

Pray for baby Kaleb.

This video moved me to tears not just because I have a baby a few months older than Kaleb or because in a few months I will have a second but because I am a mother at all. I have to ask God why did this happen to this little boy? I know I will never have an answer to that question. And I know his parents will not either. But it is his mother's testament of faith that amazes me. The prognosis is not good, but she believes that God is guiding her family.

Remember, if you are tired or angry, put the baby down and walk away. Do not shake him or her even once.

And please continue to pray for this brave family.

Affirmed

I am in the desert.
New home. New City. New aquaintences.
New church, new community.
My 3 AM adoration hour became too challenging at 50 minutes away.
I am not serving in the music ministry.
I am praying. I am listening.
I am thirsting for my God.
I pray a perpetual rosary.
The rosary bracelet around my wrist bears a medal of Padre Pio.
I know little of him,
but
at Mass this past Sunday,
when I opened the hymnal
a postcard with a picture of Padre Pio fell out.
Written were the words:
"All of your prayers are heard and answered."
Thank you Padre Pio for praying in communion with me.
Thank you My Lord for hearing and answering my pleas.
I am affirmed.
My cup runneth over.
I need to find out a little more about Padre Pio.