🍂🌻🍁Autumn Soap & Flower Giveaway! / “I Can’t Understand Why He Was Offended” ~ Alice von Hildebrand

Fall Giveaway!!

Today, I’d like to offer you a Fall Giveaway!!

The winner will receive these lovely Soaps made by Theresa! And this lovely Kanzashi Flower made by Gin!

The bars are: Peppermint and Secret Garden…All Natural Ingredients!

For the flower…each petal takes undivided attention! First, it is cut and shaped, then burnt to ensure there will be no fraying. The petals are then folded and glued into a flower design and the finishing touches are then added.
The back of the flower has a clip that easily opens and holds firmly.

Leave a comment here and your name will be added to the hat! Winner will be announced next Friday, October 15th!

Comparison can quietly wound the heart of the one we love. Our husband or wife does not want to feel that he or she must measure up to someone else’s strengths or accomplishments in order to be appreciated. Each person comes into marriage with unique gifts, weaknesses, and a personality all his own.

“I can’t understand why he was offended.”

By Love Refined, Alice von Hildebrand

Dear Julie,

At first glance, it does seem strange that Michael got upset simply because you said your father could easily fix the radio that had defeated Michael’s repair attempts. There must be more to this than you realize. Try to discover why Michael was offended – especially since both of you love and admire your father.

No doubt, your relationship with your father has been a great gift in your life. It means much for a young girl to be able to look up to her father. I, for one, owe my own father a great deal. His exceptional reverence for the mystery of conception, child-bearing, and motherhood will remain with me for life.

But am I wrong in surmising that ever since you met Michael, you’ve often praised your father at length, perhaps unconsciously holding him up to Michael as a model? These are sheer assumptions on my part, but Michael may have the feeling that you wish he would become more like your father.

If this is so, his reaction is understandable. Unconsciously, Michael may assume you love him as a second edition of your father, and that the “author of your days” remains, in your heart and mind, your first love and ideal.

I think it’s worth your time to examine whether, in fact, you may have fallen into this error. I call it an error because each of us has his own unique gifts, talents, and callings, as well as his own unique temptations and failings. Our task in this life isn’t to imitate others in any absolute way (for we have only one ultimate model: Christ). Rather we must discover who we are meant to become.

We have to judge ourselves not by the standard of another person’s personality or accomplishments, but by the possibilities embedded in our own soul. In other words, we should never try simply to imitate others spiritually or otherwise. Each of us is a unique image of God; we can only reach sanctity by fully developing our own unique potential as an imitation of God.

I know of a husband who expected his wife to be a duplicate of his sister, a woman of extraordinary charm and talent who combined beauty, intelligence, and great artistic talents. He only succeeded in crushing his wife, who was more modestly endowed. Had he realized what he was doing, he would have been horrified, because he loved her.

You certainly get the picture: if Michael suspects you want him to become another type of person instead of becoming truly himself (which is the deepest longing of love), he’s understandably hurt and is right to oppose your expectations.

So try not to compare Michael to your father. Try rather to see the beautiful promise that he has within his own soul and help him daily to make that bright promise a reality.

With my fondest affection,

Lily

“There is no greater wealth than being queen of the home. It is royalty and riches combined. Her home is her little kingdom, her family her precious treasure, and her daily duties, faithfully performed for the love of God, the jewels in her crown.” ~ Finer Femininity