I’ve a great need to be liked and when not, at least understood! So I often find myself with an urge to appease people as I move through my day here at the Mission.
It reminds me of when our daughters were young and we allowed them to use a pacifier. Quite often the pacifier ‘did the trick’ in quieting them which was a great thing for a harried parent. But I’m sort of glad that today neither Hannah, age 14, nor Gabrielle, age 11, uses a pacifier! These beautiful young women have learned to work through stress and discomfort in ways that have encouraged their growth.
Yet how easy is it for me to say what another wants to hear or to silently ‘go along’ with something that I disagree with when I am relating to residents and staff on this campus!
I am challenged to ask this: am I really acting in their best interest when I am primarily concerned not with their growth but with whether I am liked or not? Too often the answer is – “Steve you are most concerned with looking good!”
“So help me Lord to be most interested in pleasing You and in so doing – love those around me in an open and authentic and ‘non-pacifying’ way.”
-Steve Brubaker, Director of Residential Ministries
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