{"id":123,"date":"2010-12-06T23:50:12","date_gmt":"2010-12-06T23:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/?p=123"},"modified":"2010-12-07T04:43:48","modified_gmt":"2010-12-07T04:43:48","slug":"the-way-i-see-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/2010\/12\/06\/the-way-i-see-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Way I See It"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Before I began my Hands Free journey, I often noticed a woman at my daughter\u2019s swim team practice.\u00a0 While her child swam, she sat with colorful spools of yarn upon her lap and knitted. I never knew why I found myself transfixed on her, but I do now.<\/p>\n

Although she probably had grocery lists to write, emails to read, to-do-lists to peruse, and phone calls to make, she chose knitting.\u00a0 There she sat undisturbed by the happenings around her, happily lost in her own world. I wondered what kind of hopes and dreams she thought about while she worked magic with her hands.\u00a0 Although at the end of practice, I could check several items off \u201cmy list,\u201d she had created something beautiful that would last far longer than she.<\/p>\n

I thought about that woman as I stood in line at the DMV the other day. I could be like everyone else around me and begin texting friends and family to report that I was waiting at the DMV. Or like many, I could post on Facebook just how long I had been waiting. But my knitting hero came to mind, and my Hands Free inner voice urged me to take that time to focus on something that really matters<\/em> while standing in line at the DMV.<\/p>\n

It was clergy appreciation month, and I wanted to write my pastor a note. I dug around in my purse and found a receipt to write on. Of course, I had the perfect hard surface, my license plate. I began to write freely about exactly what it was about him that made such an impression on me.\u00a0 Just like the knitter, I got lost in my thoughts and something beautiful and lasting appeared before my eyes.<\/p>\n

When I got home, I transferred the note to a more acceptable form of stationary and placed it in his mailbox.<\/p>\n

After the service on Sunday, he stopped and thanked me. He seemed to be truly amazed by what I had written about him.\u00a0 He said, \u201cIf I could be half the man that you wrote about in your note, I would be doing good.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, this surprised me because I had not exaggerated or embellished my depiction of him. I told it just like I see it.\u00a0 How could he not know what an incredibly kind person he is?<\/p>\n

A few days later a card from my sister came in the mail.\u00a0 The quote on the front was this:<\/p>\n

I only wish you could see what I see when I look at you. \u00a0\u2013Koda Yamada<\/p>\n

Inside my sister had written: Sometimes I wonder if you really know how wonderful, kind, beautiful, passionate, terrific, smart and skilled you are?<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

That is when it struck me: We seldom recognize the best qualities in ourselves. We often fail to see the radiance that we add to the world.\u00a0 We are so quick to point out our own weaknesses and rarely acknowledge our strengths.<\/p>\n

Thank goodness there are people out there that take time to tell us the beauty that they see inside us. It would be a shame to go through life and never know.<\/p>\n

You have the power to tell someone about the magnificence that you see, even when you\u2019re standing in line at the DMV.<\/p>\n

Have you ever thought to yourself how amazing you think a particular person is? Or have you ever wished that you had a certain quality that he or she possesses? Today, instead of reading emails or checking Facebook, use that time to let someone know the radiance you see. You may be telling them something he or she never knew, but always wanted to hear.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before I began my Hands Free journey, I often noticed a woman at my daughter\u2019s swim team practice.\u00a0 While her child swam, she sat with colorful spools of yarn upon her lap and knitted. I never knew why I found myself transfixed on her, but I do now. Although she probably had grocery lists to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1519],"gutentor_comment":8,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/IMG_2276-e1291686690859.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1fUJF-1Z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}