Monday, September 20, 2010

You're doing better than you think you are!

So we had Stake Conference a week ago at church and one of the speakers was Sister Julie Beck. I must admit that from the beginning her talks have left me uninspired. I don't know about you but I like to leave feeling good about myself and not the other way around. Well this last week was the same. Her theme...You are doing better than you think you are...and she spoke about this for several minutes and then she said...(why does there always have to be a BUT) BUT, you could do better than you are doing...I just wanted to crumble in a ball and cry. What happened to you're doing great, keep it up! Make all you can of your day! Go you!!! Anyway on to my point...

I was at Walmart today and I heard a not very happy child which isn't unusual but this was a little different. This child was screaming like someone was hurting her. She was hitting her mom and tearing her glasses off her face. Swinging her arms and screaming, did I say screaming? At one point her mom sat down right on the floor on the frozen food isle and put her head in her hands and cried herself. She also had another child with her who was crying as well. I wanted to help but you never know how that will be received? After a few minutes she got up, child still screaming and walked to the checkout. I circled around trying to think of something to say to help but then the child stopped. I think she was exhausted. The mom picked her up and hugged her. I went down to the other end of the checkout to...checkout and as I was paying I saw she was walking my way to leave. As I walked out behind her I just couldn't let her leave without telling her she did good. She didn't scream at the child, she didn't spank her, she kept her composure the whole time. I can't say that I could have. So as we got out of the store I approached her and told her what a great job she did, that she handled it perfectly! She handed me a look of defeat and sighed with a grateful "Thank You" as she stroked her daughters hair. We talked for a few minutes and both parted to walk to our cars which happened to be parked beside each other. I got into my car and waved, she waved back and smiled.

YOU ARE DOING BETTER THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE...NO BUTS ABOUT IT!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sweetie, what a great story. I have to admit Sister Beck can be hard to listen to. What a great experience you had and you did the right thing. Those few words of encouragement you spoke to that mother probably made her day.

Ryan said...

Great story. Sometimes I feel the same way when I walk away from talks, however, it is amazing to me how often those talks make an impact in a round-about way. Maybe those are the messages that you are meant to get the most because I dont know about you, but, I am more likely to remember the moral of those talks as I experience them and having an a-ha moment versus walking away and thinking that made me feel good.

Mike and Julina said...

Wow, this moved me! Thank you for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Great story Samantha! I think all to often we don't give praise where praise is due! Good for you for listening to the spirit and talking to her. You are doing better than you think you are!!!!!!!! No doubt about it! Stephanie

Melanie said...

That's a sad but wonderful story...it's so true. Go YOU!!!!! Love ya and I hope you are having good days!