Thankful on Thursday and Friday

Yesterday, I attended our Relief Society Thanksgiving Dinner. I am so thankful for the amazing food I ate, the amazing women who helped me put the activity together, the wonderful women I ate with and tied blankets with, and for the beautiful music I got to play.

As the Relief Society Activity leader, I also made cookie-turkeys, taped and cut blankets, held several meetings, decorated the cultural hall, lugged pumpkins and other decorations around forever, made many phone calls, made sign-up sheets, got the babysitting worked out, begged for participants in our musical number, bought half of the food and made the refreshment, worked through the special musical number (wherein I played the flute and sang), did a lot of clean up, cried when I was criticized and misunderstood, wrote my first "I'm sorry" card in a long time (to the criticizing, misunderstanding individual who I had made feel bad--albeit completely unknowingly and unintentionally), and I survived.

I thought we were supposed to be done offending people when we became adults. I thought I'd outgrown it. I thought people could easily feel my love for them. But no. I am one of those blind individuals who thinks everything is rosy until I get lectured or criticized, or even gently chided for overlooking something that is obvious to other people, but not me. I know that if I pray to be more aware of the feelings of others', and I work harder on communicating my love, people will feel it more.

I am "becoming" grateful that I was compelled to be humble last week by the catch-me-off-guard criticism I received. Hopefully, it will help me be kinder. And that is worth the hurt.