Tools: Care & Caring

I had an overwhelming sense of my Dad today and started crying in my car when I picked up a pen out of my briefcase to write down the following thoughts I had on the way to work and looked at the pen and it was a Lockheed GA Employees FCU pen!

Anyways, the thoughts I had were what I thought were original, but upon reflection this toolbox metaphor is borrowed from the UUA's Toolbox of Faith curriculum for 3rd thru 5th graders. See http://www.uua.org:8080/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/toolboxfaith/index.shtml for more info on THAT (i know it b/c i used it last year when I taught Sunday school)...but here was my thought this morning:

God gives us all a toolbox full of excellent tools that can be used to construct a good life. It is up to us to learn how to use each tool in the right situation. Just like you learn that a hammer is to pound in nails or a screwdriver is used to tighten or loosen screws, or that a tape measure is used to determine the correct length, depth or height, you have to discover the tools in your own toolbox and learn how to use them correctly and appropriately.

It is only thru practice that we can get better and more skillful with each tool.

One tool (among many, but the one I am highlighting today) that my Dad taught me how to use in the right ways is CARE.

He taught me to care very much about others in my life but NOT to care about what others think. He taught me to have thick skin and a strong sense of self-confidence. If I did not care about their judgments, then I was given a special freedom that was not bound by worry of what others thought of me. I would not care if others thought I was strange b/c I was not just like them. He taught me that if you care for others and put others first then you are doing the right thing and there was no need to worry about judgments or perceptions.