our daughter has been here visiting for a week. we see her a couple of times a year: once in the summer while she is on her summer break from teaching and again at christmas when she and her husband come to spend a few days with us. occasionally we will visit them in their home, but we hate to cause extra work for them because they need their weekends to rest from their demanding jobs and take care of chores around their homes.
i am always impressed with her patience and kindness when she comes to see us. she helps around the house and does all she can to relieve us from our work while she's here. when things don't go her way, she takes life in stride, letting go of the inevitable stresses of life. when our nephew, her first cousin, came for a visit during her stay, she was patient with him, even though he's hard to be with for any length of time. his conversation is mostly about his health issues, and he shares all the details of his frequent doctor visits and the pains and limitations he faces that are caused by poor choices he made earlier in life. as he talked, she sympathized with him. she never appeared to be weary of his unending talk about himself. this is the sort of person she is, and we love her for it.
as i saw her off at the airport this morning, i thought of how lucky we are to have such a wonderful daughter. may we do all we can to instill a sense of kindness and concern in others. may we recognize the good in those around us. may we believe that the basic human impulse is kindness, recognizing that hatred and prejudice are learned rather than innate characteristics. shalom.
No comments:
Post a Comment