Posts Tagged: Today’s Gift: Daily Meditations for Familes

“Falling and Learning to Walk”

On June 22, 2019 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Each time a toddler falls is a lesson in how to walk.” (From Today’s Gift: Daily Meditations for Families)

The above quote from one of my twelve-step readings today reminded me of an incident that happened when my oldest daughter was learning to walk.  We were living in a house that had hardwood floors.  Our eleven-month-old daughter fell a lot when she was learning to walk.  I hated to see her fall on the hard floor, so I decided to “help.”  My “help” took the form of trying to catch her before she fell.  Soon, it became a game.  She would look back to see if I was there.  Then, she would fall backwards, knowing that I would ease her down on the floor.

My wise wife reminded me that, if I kept doing that, our daughter would never learn to walk.  I didn’t want my wife to be right, so I figured that she probably was.  So, I gathered up all my courage, took a step back from my daughter, and let her fall.

I will never ever forget the look of surprise and betrayal on my daughter’s face.

But she learned to walk.

No matter how old we are, we are all learning to walk.  We walk through relationships and the loss of relationships.  We walk through learning new skills and new jobs.  We walk through the labyrinth of our own minds.  We walk through our addictions.

And, oh yes, we fall—a lot.  But to fall is not necessarily to fail.

And falling doesn’t necessarily mean that our heavenly Father has failed, either.  God doesn’t always catch us.  This is not a sign of his absence or of a lack of love on God’s part.  It is a sign that God wants us to learn to walk.

There is no learning to walk without falls.

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“Praising Yourself a Little”

On January 16, 2019 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer


The following is a quote from a 12-step reading I did today (January 16, 2019).  It is from Today’s Gift: Daily Meditations for Families.

“When you do something you are proud of, dwell on it a little, praise yourself for it.
—Mildred Newman

Each one of us is very good at something. Maybe it’s baseball or tennis where we display talent. Maybe we’re good in math or at giving reports. A few people are talented at being good listeners or helpful friends. To recognize our own talents we may need help from others. It’s always so much easier to see our faults, or the ways we don’t meet our own expectations.

But the fact is we are all skilled in many areas of our lives. To accept praise–better yet, to quietly give it to ourselves–is a sign of healthy growth.

What things have I done well lately?”

After reading this, I said to myself, “I haven’t done anything well lately.”

But then I thought to myself, wait a minute!  I just solved a Canvas problem.  Yes, I created the problem.  Honesty compels me to admit that.  But that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t give myself a little credit for solving the problem.  And I learned something, too.  At the very least, I’ve learned how not to create one problem.

Of course, bragging too much on myself isn’t good.  But then, neither is ragging on myself.  Quietly giving myself praise for a job well done—or even for a job adequately done—might be an energizing activity.

I think I’ll try it.  “You wrote and posted some random thoughts today.  Well done!”

There!  See?  That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?!

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