AUNT MURIEL

"Look at the focus of your life for a moment. Is appearing perfect the most important thing in your life or is it what you do for others. Will your friends and family years from now remember what you          gave them for Christmas in 1993, or will they remember how you made them feel                                           when you were around them"?

Life's Garden of Weekly Wisdom            -- Sandra Lindsey Smith

All through my life I remember my Aunt Muriel coming to live with us.  She was my mother’s youngest sister, and very often, she was down and out, and those were the times she lived with us, usually sharing my bedroom. I realize now that I was jealous of the attention she always got from my mother.  Aunt Muriel had two tattoos on her arms, one on her wrist, that had M.F.W. (the initials of her third husband) and an anchor with the word mother written on her arm.  When we moved from Michigan to California, she hopped boxcars to come out and find us. It annoyed me so much, that as an adult I steered clear of the events that she attended.

In my forties I discovered my faith tradition, Religious Science. I took a workshop on forgiveness which allowed me to let go of those jealous feelings. I realized that Aunt Muriel loved me unconditionally.  By that time, she had Alzheimer’s and lived in a nursing home.  I would go in to visit her, and very often she could not remember who I was, but she knew I was someone she liked.  It made me realize those many years that I had missed with so many family gatherings, that the only person who really missed out was me.

Is there someone who you discovered later in life, that you had been holding a grudge with? Maybe it's time to start allowing good memories to flow in, especially if that person is still alive.

"Each one of us makes a difference in the lives of other people.  Once we are aware of what our positive attitudes can do for others, we can consciously pass them on."

                           Life's Garden of Weekly Wisdom                 --Sandra Lindsey Smith 

Life is too short to spend it throwing arrows, when we should be sharing all the love and kindness to the people who really matter in our lives.

Love and light,



Sandy Smith

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