How We Make Them Feel


 


HOW WE MAKE THEM FEEL

 

 

One of the toughest things I had to learn... 

and am still learning... 

and I failed at an awful lot...

was laying down my life... 

my mind... my will... my emotions... my dreams, desires, ambitions and goals... 

so that my wife and children could live and come into the fulness of who they were created to be.... 

 

 

I don't know whether it was a deep-seated inordinate desire to be liked and approved by… 

well… 

everyone… 

or what…

But for some reason it was almost easier for me to give up what I thought might be important for people I hardly knew, 

or friends who needed help, 

than it was to give up my own “whatever” for my family... 

 

 

AND THEY FELT IT!

 

 

I think our oldest was in his mid-teens - which meant our youngest would've been around 6 or 7 years old or so - when I actually sat the whole family down and asked them, 

"Do you KNOW I love you, or do you FEEL that I love you?”

 

 

(I even had to tell them to be honest, promising no anger, nor reprisals if they actually shared how they felt)

 

 

EACH ONE of them responded that they KNEW I loved them...

but didn't really FEEL it that often. 

 

 

That was rough to hear. 

 

 

My wife had always taken the major brunt of my self-centeredness. I know she never really FELT like she was top priority in my life... 

·       “the apple of my eye” (Zech2:8)…

·       “engraved upon the palm of my hands” (Isa49:16)...

·       “I was always mindful of her" (Ps115:12)

·       “I speak words that are spirit and life to her” (Jn 6:63)

·       “I was sent that SHE would have life… and SHE would have it more abundantly” (Jn10:10)…

 

…all which is to be in the example of Christ… by His Spirit and Nature… DEMONSTRATING LOVE

 

toward her…

 

then the children…

 

THEN… 

 

everyone else around me. 

 

 

Still learning. 

 

 

Still walking through how to make sure the ones who are closest to me FEEL that they have the highest priority... no matter what else is going on. 

 

 

That they FEEL loved. 

That they FEEL important. 

That they FEEL significant. 

That they FEEL they have my heart.

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