In the middle of math today, Mia asked me, “Mommy? Do you want to know what I think of you?” That was a scary question!
My mind started racing… “Oh dear, did I yell at her earlier for something and she’s really gonna give it to me and let me know what horrible mother I am? Is she going to tell me that my homemade macaroni and cheese tastes gross and that she wishes I’d just get the blue box stuff? Is she going to tell me that she wishes I wouldn’t homeschool her and that she wants to go to public school? How do I answer that? Do I REALLY want to know what she thinks of me?”
I said, “Um, yeah?”. I held my breath.
That little girl said, “I think you are really good at teaching me how to read and that you are a nice and really good Mommy for all of us.”
Exhale! Fighting back tears. “Aw, thanks Sweetie!”, I replied. “Do you want to know what I think of you?”
She smiled and said, “Okay.”
“I think you are strong and smart and I love how caring and sweet you are to people!” I told her.
Her smile got bigger.
Proverbs 16:24 says “Pleasant words are like honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”
How often do we only let people know what we think when they are doing something wrong or that we don’t like, but we don’t point out the things that we think they are doing really well? Probably too often. Go tell someone honestly how great you think they are… give them some encouragement. Go give them some honeycomb. 🙂