{"id":6490,"date":"2015-07-28T05:46:23","date_gmt":"2015-07-28T11:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/?p=6490"},"modified":"2015-07-30T06:18:32","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T12:18:32","slug":"the-glass-jar-every-human-being-needs-to-hold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/2015\/07\/28\/the-glass-jar-every-human-being-needs-to-hold\/","title":{"rendered":"The Glass Jar Every Human Being Needs to Hold"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cIf I don't say this now I will surely break \u201cIs there a chance something could happen?\u201d she asked. \u201cYou know \u2026 with the surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n I knew what my eight-year-old daughter was asking. Although it had just dawned on her that something could go terribly wrong, the thought had plagued me for weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it's possible, but not likely. People have surgery all the time and they come out just fine\u2014actually, they come out better than before. I think that is how it will be with me. But we can pray.\u201d<\/p>\n And so we bowed our heads my child let her fears and hopes be known.<\/p>\n I decided to keep my greatest fear to myself\u2014the one where surgery sabotaged my plan of doling out daily bits of love, wisdom, and guidance as my children grow.<\/p>\n If I could bottle up my love I would<\/em>. I thought to myself.<\/p>\n And then I remembered\u2014there was a way to bottle up my love. I\u2019d shown a group of 31 fifth graders how to do just that a few months ago.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was a writing gift for someone special in the students\u2019 lives. I\u2019d written several sentence starters to help the children divulge the Important Things\u2014words that need to be said but are often difficult to mutter. The children were instructed to complete three of the sentences on pretty paper, roll it up, tie it with a ribbon, and place it in a Mason jar. The sentence starters were as follows:<\/p>\n As I read the writing prompts out loud, a sea of eager hands filled the room. The students couldn\u2019t wait to share their responses\u2014they wanted to say them right then and there. So we set aside the writing exercise for a moment and just listened to each other.<\/p>\n I was surprised that all the children in the classroom wanted to participate in the sharing session. I was stunned by their heartfelt responses that touched on difficult topics such as divorce, moving, illness, scary events, and poor choices the children had made. It appeared that these particular writing prompts didn\u2019t require deep thinking or eloquent expression; the answers came easily. It also appeared that these sentence starters were not intimidating. Anyone could complete them. In fact, there wasn\u2019t a single child in the room who wasn\u2019t motivated to finish one of these sentences and bottle it up with love.<\/p>\n The exercise was such a success in my daughter\u2019s classroom that we did it in our home for Father\u2019s Day. Just like the fifth graders, my children found this exercise to be much easier than writing an entire letter. My daughters actually thought of multiple responses for each sentence starter and seemed to genuinely enjoy the activity. My older daughter thought to cut her responses into strips and tape them into curled circles. My younger daughter followed suit. It was quite brilliant because it made the gift last longer. I\u2019ll never forget watching my husband\u2019s large hands peel back the dainty pieces of tape to reveal something tender or sweet written by his children. I loved how he read the responses out loud. Some of the humorous reflections from my younger daughter made our family fall over with laughter. The jars created a special memory for our family that day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As I faced the first of two surgeries in early July, I knew that making the jars for my family members would give me great peace. Just imagining my husband, children, and sister sitting around the kitchen table reading the contents of their jars while I was in the hospital gave me great comfort. And in the unfortunate event that I didn\u2019t return, my family would have these little notes of wisdom and affirmation to read over and over until they became worn from excessive handling. Because of their potential importance, I tried to make my responses a little funny \u2026 a little serious \u2026 and very truthful. I did my best to tell my loved ones things I\u2019d never told them before.<\/p>\n It only took me 30 minutes to type out the responses, cut them into strips, staple them, and place them in the jar with chocolate kisses and a flower. For someone very un-crafty, I thought they turned out quite adorable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The jars came to mind as I laid in the recovery room after surgery. I\u2019d woken up from the anesthesia quite disoriented and scared. I remember asking for my husband. The nurse said he would not be able to join me just yet. So I blindly reached for a hand, any hand. I found the hand of the student nurse in training who I\u2019d grown quite fond of in our short time together. As she squeezed my hand gently, I thought of my daughters\u2019 little hands opening their notes. I could see their smiles and hear their giggles. It gave me great comfort in my time of fear.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When I came home from the hospital I asked my sister what she thought of her jar of notes. Between taking care of the children and providing health updates to my parents, neighbors, and friends, she admitted that she\u2019d only had time to read one note. But what she said next was quite powerful: \u201cI loved the first note so much that I\u2019ve decided to spread them out and read one slip a week. I am going to use them to brighten my days\u2014in case I need a lift,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n And that is when I knew this exercise should not be reserved for holidays or surgeries. It should be done right now, today, for every living being we love and adore.<\/p>\n Because the truth is, sometimes it\u2019s hard to articulate the words our loved ones need to hear.<\/p>\n And sometimes our days are so packed that we barely have time to say hello and goodbye.<\/p>\n And sometimes frustration, stress, and fatigue cause us to hold back loving words to each other.<\/p>\n But we cannot let these everyday obstacles prevent us from saying the most Important Things\u2014those affirming words that bind us together, carry us through, and brighten our days.<\/p>\n Thirty minutes, my friends. Thirty minutes.<\/p>\n How about we forgo the tv sitcom? Let\u2019s allow the emails to sit in the inbox. We'll save the dishes for later.<\/p>\n Right now we have the chance to leave a lasting imprint on a precious soul.<\/p>\n I cannot think of a more important use of our time.<\/p>\n I cannot think of anything more precious in our\u00a0the hands of our beloveds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *********************************<\/p>\n My dear friends of The Hands Free Revolution<\/a>, recovering from two surgeries has brought me some unexpected gifts \u2013 the gift of reading, resting, and card sending. I have so much goodness to share with you\u2014I think there is a little something here for everyone: <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cToday I will choose love. Tomorrow I will choose love. And the day after that, I will choose love. If I mistakenly choose distraction, perfection, or negativity over love, I will not wallow in regret. I will choose love until it becomes who I am.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n \u2013Rachel Macy Stafford<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n If you are like me and need a wearable reminder to choose love, there are now two colors! Check out the aqua green<\/a> and the new gorgeous pink<\/a>. ‘Only Love Today' is still our most popular wristband\u00a0and both the\u00a0lavender<\/a> & classic brown<\/a> are currently in stock! <\/em><\/p>\n Thank you for being part of this incredibly supportive community. My recovery is\u00a0strengthened\u00a0each day by your presence and encouragement. Please let me know if you are going to fill\u00a0glass jars to say The Important Things. It would totally make my day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cIf I don’t say this now I will surely break As I’m leaving the one I want to take.\u201d \u2013The Fray \u201cIs there a chance something could happen?\u201d she asked. \u201cYou know \u2026 with the surgery.\u201d I knew what my eight-year-old daughter was asking. Although it had just dawned on her that something could go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"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":[246],"tags":[1473,1477,968,523,1476,1472,1474,1471,1475],"gutentor_comment":7,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1fUJF-1GG","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6490"}],"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=6490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em>As I'm leaving the one I want to take.\u201d \u2013The Fray<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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