My little surprise was a hand written note and a cute little book of verse that I can carry around in my hand bag. One of the quotes stood out to me like a lighthouse in a storm. Messages of Help, Hope and Courage, it promised on the cover. Appropriate as today I had a bit of a sook at work. Thank goodness Karen was there with her ample chest to give me a big hug and then make me laugh! She's a gooden :)
The quote reminded me of something that Mum used to tell me a lot :
"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar"
Remember the other day I wrote about Mum and her "Minnisms", you know like Richard Fish. Anyway I cannot quite grasp why anyone would want to catch flies, unless of course the house was full of them and you wanted them out. The other other Minnism is "You make more friends with flowers than brick bats". Means the same thing.
Sometimes people react in a negative, defensive manner a lot quicker than they should. They immediately jump to the conclusion that you are out to get them, rather than help them. Bring them down rather than build them up. Maybe it is due to the fact that they feel threatened or pushed into a corner, so that they attack rather than wait to get the full gist of what you are trying to convey. I include my self in this generalisation.
It is a tricky balance to get right, I guess. A well meaning word turns into a brick bat.
I know a few times my weird sense of humour will have folk scratching their heads and wondering what on earth I am talking about. Using one of those in house jokes that I think everyone will get by osmosis. Clearly we are not all on the same page or wave length. I mean take young George, who ever understood what he was on about??
At other times, I know that I have just been in too much of a hurry to explain myself fully in an email or instructions. If I had taken the time to write a proper outline of what I meant, people would not have to write back seeking clarification. Must be frustrating trying to work out what I mean. See, always in too much of a hurry.*
It is another thing to add to the list of "New and Helpful Traits to Master". This is a dilemma because at times you can offend or really upset someone. You don't mean to dish out vinegar, you want to give them honey but the delivery is all wrong. Along the way the honey undergoes alchemy of some kind and turns out all wrong.
Need to pay more attention to Winnie and his wise words
I can't talk about anyone else, but I know that I need to think a bit more at times. I need to make sure that the message I am delivering is the message that is in my heart and in my brain. I am not a cavalier person by nature when it comes to other peoples feelings. I want to handout ladles of honey not vinegar. I don't want the latter to be the attitude that I portray. I should take time to really think about how I should say something, instead of being in a hurry to put my two bobs worth in.
Back to the quote:
I've had my trials and troubles. The Lord has given me both vinegar and honey, but He has given me the vinegar with a teaspoon and the honey with a ladle - William Bray
I have been given honey every now and then by the spoonful to ease the bitter taste of heartbreak and sorrow that could easily have become a bucket of vinegar.
The honey is my beautiful friends and wonderful family. The kindnesses of people around me, no matter how small, remind me that I am not alone; this too will pass and love is still to be found if we just keep looking for it. It pops up in the most unlikely of places sometimes.
*My handwriting is another victim of hurrying too much but I think that I have already covered that dastardly trait.
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