THE sweetest person I have ever met. Awe …
One evening when the kids were small, we were having a family night and they were asking about how Michael and I met and what was it about the other that made us realize we wanted to marry each other.
Michael said without hesitation … “your Mama is the sweetest person I have ever met”.
If he would have said, “your mama was the hottest chic I’d ever seen on the face of the planet”… It might have made me a little happier, but nevertheless, I was still beaming and he got lots of sugar that night! I knew he thought that about me, he had said many, many times over the years, to me, as well as others, what a sweet person he thought I was and he had never seen me be rude to anyone.
Even though that is a very kind compliment to me, I think it speaks volumes to the kind of man my Michael is as well. I feel anyone who values kindness and sweetness in a person, must be a person of fine character themselves.
Used to be the sweetest person I have ever met. What tha????
Now let’s jump ahead a few years. Sweet Lisa is approaching 50 and we’re having dinner with friends who asked the same question our children asked years earlier. But this time Michael answered by saying …
“Lisa used to be the sweetest person I had ever met” Used to be? I responded! He corrected himself quickly by explaining that he still thought I was sweet, but as I’ve aged, I was no longer co-dependent, I didn’t put up with frustrating people with obnoxious behavior and I no longer lost sleep and worried if people didn’t like me like I did when I was younger.
He redeemed himself and once again, I was beaming, and he got a lot more sugar that night!
He was right though. As I aged, and the more I was around people, the more I realized, some people didn’t deserve my kindness. They didn’t deserve me bending over backward to ensure their friendship or respect.
Now that I am 50, I realize the following things about myself..,
* I have no patience for gossiping, manipulation, judgment or hypocrisy.
* Spiritual, intellectual, elite or any other type of arrogance frustrates me.
* I no longer feel the need to belong in circles, bubbles or cliques.
* I have lost the will to please those who don’t appreciate me for who I am. (The real me; the flawed me)
* I have learned to find beauty in odd and imperfect things AND people; they are much more interesting.
* I love REAL people…the imperfect, the unique, the weird, the honest and the humble.
* I respect and enjoy people who have chosen to live a life that is authentic and is not contingent upon what others think or expect of them.
* I am respectful, but I choose to avoid inflexible, ungracious and conditional people.
* I’ve learned that I am curious and I enjoy learning about new things that are out of the ordinary.
“When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do” – Walt Disney
Most importantly… I realize that God is more real in my life than ever and it’s not my job to convince others that He is real for them. He is gentlemen and will not force Himself on anyone who is not interested; so why should I?
My job to speak of His goodness and grace in MY life.
I know beyond a doubt that I am His chosen and nothing I do or don’t do will EVER change His love for me. He created me exactly how I am and I will live the remainder of my life simply being me and enjoying and being grateful for the life He has blessed me with.