Cotton & Sandpaper

Monday evenings are reserved as a family night that we call Family Home Evening (FHE). On this night we might have a spiritual  lesson, or focus on something we can improve on as a family, or just do something fun together.  I'm always looking for great ideas that I feel will help our family grow closer and be better people.  I just happened across an idea that I knew I needed to share with my family. I collected supplies and was so excited for the lesson. 

My three kids range in ages from 8 to 13. They are pretty good kids, but as a family we can improve with how we talk to each other. So this  particular night for FHE, I focused on that. I gave each person a cotton ball. I asked them to rub it on their cheek and describe how it felt. "Soft" and its many synonyms were listed!  Then I gave them a little square of sandpaper. I asked them to rub it on their cheek and describe how it felt. Rough was the first word they all thought of. I then told them our words are either like cotton or sandpaper.  Then we brainstormed words that are soft cotton ball words and words that are harsh sandpaper words. They really got it. We each made a card to put somewhere as a daily reminder to help us remember to use cotton ball words with each other.  Although this was several weeks ago, my children still are reminding family members to use cotton ball words!  

I was pretty pleased with the lesson. However, in an off moment I caught myself using sandpaper words with myself. That's one aspect of eating disorders that is so hard to over-come...the negative self talk. I think I've always been hard on myself, but once ED took over, it got completely vicious. But, after our FHE lesson, I started being more aware of my internal self communication. I noticed I used a plethora of sandpaper words and started working hard to soften the way I thought about myself. It's a work in progress and there are still sandpaper moments, but I'm working.  

Proverbs 16:24 says, "pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones". This is true with friends, family, and with how we think and communicate internally with ourselves. So throw out those sandpaper words and fill the world with cotton ball words!  It will truly be "sweet to the soul"!