How to Grow Up

I was sitting at the dining room table with Mom this evening as she talked me through next week and all the things I have to accomplish. They're not big things or hard things or fun things. They're keep-me-at-home things. Just all the insignificant things that accomplish bigger things much later...Character building things.
Then she began writing some familiar words on a piece of paper and explaining them to me.

This is what she wrote:

CHARACTER

 1. FAITHFUL/ DILIGENT/DEPENDABLE

DO DUTY FAITHFULLY

(Most of us stick here and never fully master these ones,

but we must master them if we want to be of any use to others)

2. SERVING/SACRIFICIAL/THOUGHTFUL

BEYOND CALL OF DUTY

(This is interdependence,

where life is more than dragging yourself through each day)

3. HUMILITY/TEACHABLE HEART/WISDOM/HONESTY

CONTINUE TO LEARN + GROW

(Humility and teachableness is the only way to grow.

And the Honesty is for being honest about the first 2 steps,

whether we were diligent about them or not)

4. TEACHING OTHERS

(I can do this when I've learned all the Fruits of the Spirit.

 Only when I've learned them do I have the right to lead and instruct others.

Although, sometimes if you are a parent and you have only just begun your

character journey, you might have to learn them on the job).

Well, that's what Mom said, told by me, as best I could remember. It's very interesting, I think.

Oh, yes! I almost forgot. I took a picture of the tree today because it's beginning to look like summer:

Sola Deo Gloria!

Taralyn Rose~