‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

So often it is difficult to know where the line lies between kindness and domineering. It doesn’t sound as if the two could possibly mix, but sometimes in our watchfulness over those we care about we’re inclined to think it a kind of goodness when it actually becomes domineering.

It is often the best and kindest thing to let others think for themselves. Even though the helpfulness is of love, it can be smothering to the ones who want to breathe freely, even of their own problems.

Concern can turn to possessiveness in the space of a moment and do it so subtly it is almost impossible to comprehend. All individuals have the right to make their own mistakes and also the undeniable right to correct those mistakes. It makes help appreciated when it comes and then help is recognized as help and not as ownership.

If we were all told what to do, it would relieve us of the burden of the responsibility of thinking, planning, or making decisions. Our lives would be literally free of care. And there are those among us who love to direct the traffic of other people’s lives. But have you noticed how detestable it is to them to have the smallest suggestion made concerning their own? What a display of vanity!

There are always sycophants, or “apple polishers,” if you will, who fawn and flatter the vanity. But to have one’s vanity built to great heights is not always an act of love, but more often subtle scorn.

Love is the only force against vanity. Love does not wish to command, but only to serve. If love cannot tell the truth it does not speak. Vanity separates, love joins. Love does not ask that another take the responsibility, but it asks only the strength to bear it.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
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Elder’s Meditation of the Day
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