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Show ' Let's Minor acts of love By REV. LEE TRUMAN Copley News Service We all live in relationships, relation-ships, good or bad, but the relationships which should be the deepest and the most rewarding are often the ones most abused. Why? Because a fact of life is that few people think about their relationships. Most persons I see in counseling leave their intimate, inti-mate, personal relationships relation-ships to chance. Most of us accept the stress as if it were inevitable, do not think it through and go at it in a rather let-me-muddle-this-through manner. The result is often petty bickering bicker-ing and sulkmess by two hurt people, neither very sure why it happened. You can let this happen by neglecting the little things that bring pleasure to the other person. Flowers Flow-ers usually celebrate some anniversary or fond event. Flowers that are for no occasion oc-casion at all can tell a very different story. Recently a woman told me how one evening the family was sitting down to dinner when her husband John, brought in a bouquet as a centerpiece. Flowers meant nothing to her husband hus-band but he knew how much they meant to his wife. Even as Dorothy told me about the incident, I could see in her face some of the glow of that still very alive pleasure. ; Every day each of us could express the affection that we often let atrophy until is is questioned or questionable. One calculated calculat-ed act of kindness would change the mood of a house in an instant. Minor acts of love that are nicely timed set in motion an endless chain of positive reaction,. I called at a house where the 10-year-old daughter had fixed breakfast that morning. Her intentions were the best, but the disaster dis-aster was still very evi-denL evi-denL The breakfast was a mess from the practical standpoint, but the kindness kind-ness offered and the mood that the breakfast put in that family was a very proud one even as late as that afternoon. I daresay that breakfast will be enjoyed en-joyed for days. Harry Dennison was feeling low. Instead of his wife telling him to stop feeling sorry for himself or to chide him for his depression, depres-sion, she made a list of what he had achieved in the past year, touching not only accomplishments in his business but things he had done for her and the children. The list is still kept in this Harry's office top desk drawer to give him tangible evidence that bis wife appreciates him and took the pains to tell him so in an intelligent way. He was not aware of it, but as he was telling me about it, he was stroking that list. It means a great deal to him. It is a good rule to face difficulties at the time they arise and not allow them to increase until there is an explosion. Some misunderstandings misunder-standings are just as well forgotten as others are important im-portant enough that they should be attended to as soon as possible. Friction and its accompanying feel-. feel-. ings can become rooted in our emotions. The peace of a relationship relation-ship is worth every conscious con-scious effort you can bring to it. Differences will be there because every member mem-ber of the househhold is different, dif-ferent, but the miracle of human relations is that in spite of our differences we can live together in love. This is not a way of troubleshooting, troub-leshooting, but rather a resolve re-solve to enrich in every way we can the relationships relation-ships which in our hearts we value the most |
