04/14/26 BE A BLESSING, NOT A BURDEN
The old illustration is that a young person asked a parent if a person in the church was part mule. The parent was surprised at such a question and said, "No, why do you ask?" The child said, because their face is so long."
Don't be a long-faced, sad, critical, whiny person and expect people to respect you as a Christian.
I heard someone say we should not be the kind of "Christian" that other Christians need to "apologize for" or "make excuses for."
As a child, I remember a relative whom I admired and loved greatly, but as I got older, I saw the snideness, arrogance, unkindness, and meanness that person had for other folks in our family. I was disappointed because I was a young person who wanted to admire my relative. I thought family was supposed to be loving, kind, and supportive. But as the years passed, that person became more obnoxious. Don't allow yourself to fall into such a trap. It is a very special blessing to be held in high esteem by a young person, especially if that young person is in your family. It is a terrible strike against a young person to be treated with disdain by the very people they admire.
