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| News From Mama E | August 2009 |
| In This Issue |
| Who is Mama E? |
| Words of Wisdom |
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Quick Links
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Greetings!
It seems that life has been teaching us some serious lessons lately. Specifically, I’ve been reminded that life is too short to waste time on broken relationships. In light of the the death annoucements which have monopolized the news in recent days, is it not clearer than ever that we never know when it will be our last day on earth? Wouldn’t it be a shame to have our loved ones last memory be of something trivial or petty? Let’s decide to work to make and maintain loving relationships with the people who matter. Don’t you agree that it’s worth the effort?
Sincerely,
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 Who is Mama E?
In our first edition, I began by given a bit of personal information about myself. Since it appears that it was of interest to many readers, I thought that I’d make it a series, so every issue will give you a little bit of my history. It might prove to be therapy for me and entertainment for some of you. LOL!!
For as long as I can remember, I loved to write and sing. Our parents insisted that we all take piano lessons, and because our family was extremely committed to the church, the music transferred into choir recitals, afternoon church programs, and the like. Actually, my sisters and I were not given a choice in the selection of our extra-curricula activities-not when it came to church! So much of my early writing was put to music, and became songs for a particular event. (And because I didn’t really place a value to it, most of them were discarded.)
This might be a good time to make a detour.
Can I please encourage parents to study the gifts that your children are demonstrating? The secret to what they could become is probably clearly being shown, but you may not be looking! I’m convinced that it is part of a parent’s responsibility to determine what God intended for your precious commodity to accomplish. What were they born to do? WATCH THEM, they’ll show you;Are they dancers? Drummers? Singers? Orators? Once their purpose is evident, do the best you can to encourage, develop, and applaud their gifts.
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| How Significant is your Other?
The other day I found myself thinking about the phrase which we commonly use in discussing people with whom we’re in intimate relationships. I wonder who thought of that title? Significant other…
What is a “significant other”?, I thought, as I allowed my mind to take issue with some of the common day terminology. The dictionary defines significant in this way: 1. Having meaning. 2. Suggesting or containing disguised or special meanng. 3. Important, Weighty.
And then, the second part of the phrase is “other”. Other what? I can only assume that the clever person who came up with the phrase meant “an other person? Perhaps it suggests that there is only one other person in my life who is important. Or, maybe, the phrase means that of the other people with whom I associate, this one has meaning, or is special.
Let’s go with that. So, for the sake of ths discussion, people who are in committed relationships with another human being, who feel that the person is meaningful, and important, qualify for the “significant other” title. Alright, this will be the basis of the dialogue.
There are many couples who have made the decision to spend time with, (sometimes exclusively), to share intimate thoughts and concerns, to express dreams and goals, and most often, nowadays, to share living quarters (which includes bedroom activities), expenses, and household needs. From the outside, it looks like a marriage, because all of the afore mentioned things are typically descriptive of marriage.
In my conversations with people who have “significant others”, I ask,” how is this different from what married people experience? The answer can either sway one of two ways: Either we’re not ready for marriage, or I’m just as committed to him/her (after all, marriage is just a piece of paper).
Here’s my thought. If you’re doing what married people do, if you feel about each other like married people feel, and if you provide for each other what married people provide, why won’t you make the commitment to each other which merely says, “I’m going to stay”. My take on cohabiting is that it permits a person to “leave the back door open”. It says that one is not absolutely positive that “you are the one”; it allows us to keep our options available, just in case, we find something better.
Which causes me to ask, just how significant could one be, if the possibility of finding someone else is always hovering over the relationship? Maybe the phrase should be “temporarily significant”, or “possibly significant”, or not so significant, after all.
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| Mama E is
on TV
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If you’re in the local Jacksonville, Florida area, tune in on Sunday evenings, at 10:00 pm on Comcast Channel 29, for the Malachi 2:16 telecast.Mama E hosts 30 minutes of thought provoking dialogue with interesting guests on topics related to (what else?) marriage and the family.For more information, call
888-477-1477 |
