"A gracious (kind, polite) woman attains honour (respect)." Proverbs 11:16a
Being a homemaker, my children, Caleb and Naomi, are usually the ones who help me to see the unpleasant side of me most of the time. Yesterday, while I was preparing to bathe Naomi, I got quite annoyed with her when she refused to step into the shower room in the common bathroom. She told me that she had urinated on the floor in the shower room and had used water to gush the urine away.
As Naomi is still not tall enough to reach for the shower head, I suspected that she had used her mouth rinsing cup to collect some water and rinse the floor as I saw that the floor outside the shower room was wet. Getting a little impatient (as I had already mopped the floor earlier), I asked her to go inside the shower room first so that I could use the mat that she was stepping on to wipe away the water. She refused to move!
Getting more annoyed, I raised my voice at Naomi to get her to move. And she did. However, I could see from her facial expression that she was hurt and about to cry. She 'warned' me that she would tell Daddy that I had used harsh words on her. She was indeed very upset with me. And I was equally cross with her (still even after we had come out of the common bathroom).
As I was reading Proverbs 11 today, this particular, simple verse just stood out from the Bible. It was so relevant for me. I failed to realise from the episode the day before that what Naomi did was actually right and appropriate according to her age and level of understanding. I had reminded the children umpteen times (after the maid had left on 12 January) that they were not supposed to use the toilet bowl in the common bathroom as I did not want to wash so many toilet bowls (3 altogether) while waiting for our new maid to arrive after Chinese New Year. I had also instructed Naomi before that she was not allowed to turn on the shower head herself as she had not learnt how to adjust the temperature of the water yet. All these, she faithfully adhered to! So, when Naomi urinated on the shower room floor (maybe she was very urgent and could not get to the yard toilet on time), she just wanted to rinse the urine away so that I would not step on it. It was normal for (and common sense to) her to get water from the basin using her cup! Yet, I had allowed myself to lose my peace (and cool) by sweating over this small stuff (wet floor) with her!
I was too quick to catch her wrong than her right. I should listen to my senior pastor's advice that we, parents, should make a point to catch our children doing right than catch them doing wrong. Give them praise where and when it is due. How to attain honour (respect)? Be gracious (kind, polite and even forgiving)! This is true and relevant even outside home.
God's Beloved
