BE A FLOATY

The Situation

What is it about other people’s comments that they are stating about their own lives bothers us so much?   

Well, don’t let it!!

We get too personally caught up in our own selves as others talk and take everything others say as if they are referring to us.

Here’s the deal.  Don’t people have the right to their own opinion just the same way you have the right to yours?  Why must we keep hating on each other for disagreeing? What all the sudden makes my view perfect and your view wrong?  It’s just all wrong.

It is wrong to not think of others and their story and float right over things.  

BE. A. FLOATY.

So, let me get straight to the point.

In the end, all people will remember is how you treated them.   

They won’t recall all the different jobs you held or money you earned or cars you drove, but they will recall and identify you with how you treated them and others.

Again, I am not preaching from some perfect standpoint… believe me…I am just a messed up sinner…ask my family! ha!

What I am saying is…think before we make that molehill into a mountain.

If you decide that EVERYTHING you love…from the colors you love, to the foods you love, to where your kids go to school, to where you live, what you wear, where you travel, to causes you believe in, things you hold dear is worth fighting for, then guess what?  

None of it is special at all, and certainly not worth fighting for.   

Do you want to know why?

Its because all that has become memorable has been your fighting voice and your fight…NOT the issues you were fighting about..because you fought about it all!!!

The Solution

Is it really worth it to fight so hard for others to all come alongside us in every detail about our own lives?   OR, could it be more important to come alongside others and be a listening ear, and even if you don’t agree with them, you don’t say a word, but just listen.   

BE. A. FLOATY.

That will be far “louder” in their memory than any cause you were fighting for.

The loud person who pushes their agenda on everyone all the time can become something to easily tune out and in the end will be remembered as the person who just always had to fight.

The person, who was available to listen, and push their own ideas aside in favor of love for their friends, will be the memory that stands out far and above the rest.

Your social media friend count, likes, and repins (is that even what its called) won’t be what anyone is remembering about you.   Your real friends, the lives you touched, the people influenced with love is what will be recalled and how you chose to put others needs ahead of your own.

Selfless love, coupled with the recognition of the fact that we are all going to have our own opinions and they will always be changing is a great perspective to keep as you go through life.

And always being willing to listen.   

The SuperPower

I am thoroughly convinced (in my own silly mind) that listening, just like reading and writing cursive, and driving a stick shift is becoming the next superpower that used to be the norm.

You want to change the world?   

Find someone to listen to. And sit there with NO agenda, no planned narrative, and be fully and wholly engaged in the listening and hearing process.  You may be surprised what you will learn just from listening.

There is something about listening to another human talk that comforts your soul to be connected, but more importantly, elevates that person to let them know that they do matter and are worth listening to.   

So what if everything they say is the complete opposite of what you believe in?  If they are able to talk and open up and be respectful (this is a big deal), then you can listen.  Listening shows the other person that you are respecting that they have their own right to their own opinion.  It also shows the person you are taking the time to hear them.

Sometimes the ones that fight the hardest and the loudest is because they have never felt “heard”.  

Let’s start a movement of “being a floaty”.

Think about one of those big pool floaties.  You know, the ones that can easily hold like 2-3 adults and are plenty big.   

What if all the water is people you get to touch in your life.  What if you get to be the floaty and go everywhere listening to all of them and encouraging all of them?  If the water gets choppy and wavy from people jumping in and doing cannonballs (the loud ones that think everything is a sticking point), what does the floaty do?  It just keeps floating with the water rolling right over and off it.

Let’s be like the floaty and let the opinions and stances others have, just roll right off.  What happens when the water rolls off and the chaos calms down? Others want to get in that floaty cause it looks fun and doesn’t go down right?

Do you see what is happening?  By being the floaty and letting people be heard and letting the opinions roll off, others are attracted to that and wanna jump on board and do the same!

Be a floaty and others will be drawn to you and want to jump on board!

Once people see how well you respect others and you want to encourage them, you will be able to be a witness for all the right reasons.

This life isn’t about me, and  it isn’t about you. It’s about showering others with the love and grace of Jesus Christ so that they can see Jesus for who He is and that He came to save ordinary messed up sinners just like us.

It doesn’t mean that there aren’t causes worth fighting for, as there MOST certainly are!  It means that if you can slow down for just a minute and take the time to listen to someone who needs to be heard, that could be the beginning of changing not just one person’s life, but countless others through the ripple effect.

BE. A. FLOATY.

A Little Backstory

Let me share a personal story with you as an example.   

I was a kid who was just so unaware of all the labels, statuses, etc. I was probably unaware of a lot in life and just happy to be there. It was  rough in school getting picked on and was a very awkward kid with not any skills or gifts that I knew of at the time.   

Anyway, when I was about pre-tween age (i think I was like 9-13 or somewhere in there), there was a day that had a profound effect on me.  There was a woman, who was probably in her 60s and she was a friend through our church. She took me to the local book store….just me and her…that right there made me feel so special and seen. She then told me that I could pick out any book I wanted and she would buy it for me!  

OK, I know this may not sound like a big deal to you, but it was MASSIVE TO ME!! It was like this crazy moment of feeling special in a way I had not before. I picked out one of those young reader books like stories from the bible kind of thing.  We went back to her house and had a snack and I read my book.  This was over 32 years ago. This memory is so special to me that I tear up each time I talk or think about it. She spent time with me that day. Just me and her. She asked me questions.  Then she listened to my answers. Finally, she encouraged me. We talked about life in general and were just together.

This may sound like nothing special especially in the social media world of everything being flashy and over the top moments for every day that can tend to make us all feel inadequate at the highest levels, but to me, IT WAS EVERYTHING!

I was raised in a small town, where your status in life was decided by the social hierarchy.  My parents were teachers so we didn’t have much. I didn’t realize then and didn’t care and still think that’s one of the biggest blessings of my childhood.  I was awkward in school, although I had a couple of really awesome friends who I could count on with everything. Although I loved my grandparents very much, I only saw them yearly due to living so far away.  That is maybe a part of what made this so special to me.

This one lady, in this one town, took this one afternoon, and just listened to me. It was then and still is one of the “loudest” most profound memories of my childhood.

I now try to pay all that forward that she poured into me by trying to find lots of “simple everyday moments” to pour into others as much as I can.

I fully believe that it will reap rewards beyond anything we can imagine.  If heaven had a “like” button, I believe those kinds of hidden listening moments would go viral for sure.

Let’s start a floaty movement.  

Click here for a FREE custom printable set we created just for you to encourage you to be that floaty and then share below with us when someone has poured their life into you and how that affected you in your life.

Blessings,

Susan