Becoming Us, the book I told you about the last two times we were together gave me one more nugget of truth with this statement: “I only want to plant sweet things.”
Do you have that one person (or maybe several) in your life where the combination of your two personalities is like “oil and water?” You’re both looking at the same sky and one of you calls it powder blue and the other sees medium blue with hints of pink and yellow? That one person (or maybe you’re this person for someone else) who plays games in the form of manipulation, passive-aggressive behavior, or the ‘victim’ mentality every time you’re together?
What if from today forward, you decided to only plant sweet things?
What if, instead of dreading those times you get together with that “one person,” you ask God to help you see him (or her) through God’s eyes? You “pray up” ahead of time and ask God to give you the words and the ways He wants you to demonstrate love? What if, you choose ahead of time (and follow through) that no matter what, you will NOT be offended?
I like that phrase, “I only want to plant sweet things.”
Because the reality is, more than likely, that one person who causes you inner turmoil every time you’re together probably has no idea the way you feel, the thoughts you think, or the feelings you leave with when your interactions are over.
You can’t choose how that one person will respond to you; but you have total control over how you will approach that one person.
Do you want to sleep guilt free each night, knowing you asked God to help you plant sweet things, or do you want to stay awake all night replaying all the annoying behaviors that occurred?
I’m not there yet, but I want to be the person who makes it a habit to “only plant sweet things” into the lives of others … regardless of what is attempted to be planted into my life.
© Cheri Swalwell 2019