So Sorry

I announced to my family yesterday that we have a new family rule.

NOONE is allowed to feel sorry for themselves, for any reason, ever.

It sounds rather simple just like that, but the enforcing of the rule is going to take a large amount of creativity, another large amount of discernment, a larger amount of follow-through, and quite a bit of humor.

I began the discussion after the announcement by telling the children that there are people in this world that are born with disabilities, whether they be blind, deaf, legless, armless, you get the point. Yet others encounter hardships related to health, or loosing a loved one. I gave clear examples of people whom they have met to illustrate the point that if anyone deserves to feel sorry for themselves, it would be people who face their limitations every time they look in the mirror. I then asked them to tell me if they knew whether or not our friends felt sorry for themselves. Guess what? They don't. They take what the world sees as disabilities, limitations, immense suffering, and they overcome it. So why do we, when we don't have life altering issues occurring in our lives, decide that we are ungrateful for what we have that we demand to be self seeking?

I so want my children to grow to be overcomers. To take the difficult things they face everyday and determine to not allow those things to have the power to prevent them from becoming who they are meant to be.

I want that for me too.

The first day of the new family rule went well. I crunched the back end of my car into someone else's, and didn't feel sorry for myself at all.