Thought for the Week from Karla’s Korner: Looking Beyond Yucky

Thought for the Week

I am proud to introduce a new column to Madame Deals! I think we all need a touch point a place we can go to be inspired. Karla is my children’s teacher, a good friend, and a person with a heart of gold. I hope that her words will inspire you to do more. We are only as good as the people we surround ourselves with. It is important to listen with your heart and proceed with your eyes open. Enjoy!

Looking Beyond Yucky….

This past weekend my husband and I went back to the little town where we started our family. With the rain falling for most of the weekend we were sad that we couldn’t get out and walk around and take in the town like we wanted, but we were thankful for the opportunity to go on this journey together. We lived in three different houses while we were there and were excited to see the changes that have taken place in the past twenty years. While there were definite changes to each house the biggest change was to the one we lovingly refer to as the “yucky house”. When I was 7 months pregnant with our daughter, our landlord decided to sell the house and our option was to buy it or leave; we left and moved into an older less attractive house. Two years later we bought a foreclosed home that needed some work. One night after working on the new house we were packing up to go back to our rental when 2 ½ year old Melinda plopped down on the floor and said “I don’t want to go back to the yucky house no more…I want to stay here in the new pretty house!” From that day on we have always referred to house number two as the “yucky” house. Moving into house number three was exciting; we brought our baby boy home and completed our little family. Having lived in that house for almost five years we were excited to go back and remember our time there. What astounded me about the “yucky” house was that it was no longer yucky. The brown cedar siding had been replaced with beautiful light yellow vinyl siding while the yard had been cleared of the excess trees. It was beautiful. To the side of the house stood a garage and the driveway was nicely paved. For the rest of our weekend we found ourselves discussing the “yucky” house and how surprised we were at how great it looked. (Being renters we did all that we could and learned to just make do with what we had knowing that it was only temporary.)

As I thought about our trip on the way back home my mind kept going back to the “yucky” house and how that could find its way into this week’s post. And then, like most weeks, my “ah haa!” moment came when I began to think about how we look at those we consider “yucky” or less than desirable. As I sat down to write this the television is on and the buzz of the day is the Oscars. Everyone is anxiously waiting to see which celebrity wears which designer gown and who will win the best dressed category. Personally, I couldn’t care in the least and am looking forward to the Daytona 500 instead; you don’t have to be well dressed to win in NASCAR.

Dr. Benjamin Carson has been making headlines in the news recently for a speech he gave at a prayer breakfast with the President of the United States. Whether I agree or disagree with Dr. Carson’s political views is not important. I am, however, impressed with Dr. Carson’s personal story. Growing up with a single mother who had only made it through the third grade, this young man and his family were less than desirable by many social standards. As if the struggles of an African American family in his early years were not enough, Dr. Carson had to endure being poor, and without a father in his life. Some might find it easier to give up and just be less than desirable their entire life. However, it was Dr. Carson’s own mother who instilled in him that he could do anything he set his mind to and that education was the key to where he wanted to go. Listening to Dr. Carson share his story brings me back to the yucky house and how with a lot of hard work it is now beautiful and inviting. While Dr. Carson was more than likely looked upon as having a less than desirable outcome in life, he chose to work hard and become one of the nation’s top pediatric neurologists giving him a very desirable outcome in life.

A Facebook friend posted a picture of his freshly groomed dog this week highlighting the fact that his dog was not so attractive; ugly. This post generated a few comments about the dog with my friend responding that “he is kind of ugly but he is part of our family and we love him”. This made me smile, because while most people would walk past a not so attractive dog and pick a more beautiful one, this family chose him and love him very much. My guess is that he brings them great joy. The same can be said for how we pick our friends in life. Quite often we tend to find ourselves wanting to hang out with the pretty people; you know the cool kids. But what would happen if we chose our friends based on what is on the inside. Choosing people to share our lives with can be daunting; however, if we take out the superficial stuff we might just uncover the beauty that lies within and find a treasure of a friendship.

Peace,
Karla

Check out all of Karla’s Korner articles for more thought for the week here. Also, please visit Karla’s Lifetime Moms page and read her articles.

Topic: Thought for the Week