Opportunities for change

Day 3

My niece has recently began asking questions about her birth parents and why they aren't raising her. Thankfully, she has been taught that your mommy is the person who cares for you, not just the person who's belly the doctor cut you out of.  I am so very proud of my aunt, my sister, and our grandmother, not only for being rock stars and raising her, but for always being honest with her. They give her constants: discipline, affirmation, honesty, love, and affection.  They give the five year-old little girl the tools needed to draw her own conclusions and to create her own healthy perspectives of every situation. But, when she does ask questions, they give her doses of gentle truth.

I have heard of the whole nature versus nurture thing my whole life and I have realized that certain particular aspects of daily living are learned behaviors. For instance, Love: The most basic instinct of human nature is a learned behavior. Loving someone through the good times and the bad is a learned behavior. Choosing to love and choosing love, is a learned behavior. I think the affirmation I received is meeting and falling in love with my husband. In our early relationship, he loved me the best he knew how, but he had to learn to love me in the traditional sense as husband and wife love each other; he had no examples of that growing up and that was something he had to learn from being around other Christians and from my parents.  If love is not taught from the very beginning, it is not a lost cause. Sometimes all people need is the opportunity to learn and someone willing to teach.