Sunday, April 10, 2005

For Young Girls and Teens

What is Your Personality Today?

by Lydia

Girls, here is a way to look at yourself and see if you are falling below the high standards
your family wants for you. The habits and attitudes you are now practicing, will one day
be deeply ingrained in you. What you end up being as an older woman, is what you are now
becoming. Be sure to study this carefully. Enlist the help of others (parents, grandparents, church authorities) to help you remember to correct a bad attitude and acquire a good one. When others remind you, be sure to thank them.

The following list was accompanied by hand drawn facial expressions of girls, but I have not figured out how to put them on the weblog, so you'll just have to use your imagination! I wrote it
around the year 1992.

Pouting:-
This girl looks like she had something disagreeable for breakfast. She is obviously not
getting her own way. The expression on her face reveals what she is thinking. She
can't understand how much it discourages others to be around her--in fact, they avoid
approaching her because she has a sour, ungrateful, pessimistic outlook on life. She
wakes up in the morning expecting the day to be horrible, and because of her
attitude, she makes everyone around her miserable.

"Love does not seek its own way." I Corinthians 13:5

Happy:-
It is a real delight and lift to see this person. She makes everyone around her feel joy.
Her attitude is calm and pleasant, and when she is present, it feels like a ray of
sunshine has crossed your path. Actually, it really is SON-shine, because her face
is a reflection of the time she has spent talking to the Lord in prayer, reading His word,
and remembering family and friends with good deeds and kind compliments.

"Happy is the man who finds wisdom." Proverbs 3:13

Quarrelsome and Argumentive:-'
This girl manages to find an objection to just about everythng
anyone says, unless it is completely to her own liking. Flippant remarks, objections,
contradicting (taking the opposite opinion or disagreeing), and acting superior makes
you want to avoid her. Everyone is cautious about getting into a conversation with
her, because it will always end up in a quarrel, or go around in circles, leaving the
other person feeling sad and disappointed. People avoid her and she becomes even
more bitter because she has no real friends. It is a vicious cycle! If only she would
learn to listen nicely and be agreeable enough to allow a smooth conversation.

"The servant of the Lord must not quarrel." 2 Timothy 2:24

Agreeable:-
Conversation flows smoothly with this girl. It is obvious she loves' God's last
creation -- mankind! She is easy to get along with, peaceful and helpful at home,
and a real energy giver. You never hear her criticize, condemn, or dislike anything.
She doesn't even criticize the weather, believing that every day is a valuable gift
from God. In that state of mind, she doesn't want to ruin a good day, or relationships,
with disagreeableness. Because of her co-operativeness, the Lord blesses her with
health, strength and inner beauty. She has the love and admiration of her family and
gets along well with her mother, who is her best friend. People seem to always want
to do something for her for no reason at all!

"Be at peace among yourselves." I Thessalonians 2:22

Suspicious:-
Having this kind of personality is like having a shark and a snake in the house
at the same time. Even the look on her face betrays her suspicious feelings.
Everyone has to tiptoe around her and watch their words and
hide their actions, for fear of being accused of something, questioned, confronted
or verbally attacked. If you ask her out to tea, she asks "why" in a demanding
tone, or says, "What is this all about," and it soon robs you of your enthusiasm
to do anything nice for her. She can't just accept friendship and kind gestures
graciously. She is also not very open to learning something that would be good
for her, and refuses to read the books her family recommends, and the advice
they give her.

"The works of the flesh are evident, which are...hatred, contentions...outbursts
of anger, selfish ambitions, dissentions, envy..." Galations 5:2

Amiable:-
Since this girl believes that life is a privilege, she thinks the best of everything
and looks on the good side of everyone. She automatically thinks pure and lovely
thoughts. Being around her is so inspiring, that you always come away with new
insights and ideas.

"Love always trusts." I Cor. 13:7

Tension-producer:-
For some reason, this perfectly calm girl, seems to create problems
wherever she goes. She doesn't appear to be doing anything naughty, but when
she is around, there is a quarrel or some kind of falling out between others
who are around her. Girls like this have an air of innocense but their
attitudes are causing jealousy and strife. They will often say, "What did I do?"
or claim not to have done anything. They seem to have learned the technique
of creating tension.

One way that this tension and quarrelling is produced, is through her own tale-bearing.
She goes to one person and reports something another is doing. Then she reports to the
other person, what the other one is doing. This creates tension between the two people,
while she smiles and happily goes about with an innocent air of detachement. She was
told when she was little that she should always tell the truth, and she does. Unfortunately,
she uses this truth telling to sabotage friendships and create strife. Telling the truth does
not include reporting things that are not our business, or stirring up trouble between those
around us.

"It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will quarrel."
Proverbs 20:3

Circumspect:-

This girl is very aware of the effect of her attitudes and actions, as well
as being sensitive to the feelings of others. For example, she can sense when
she is over-stepping her bounds in conversation, and will back off if she is
not well-received. She has a way of avoiding strife and she knows how to
ease a tense situation. Her behaviour is modest and her attitude is kind.
She isn't focused on her own pleasures, desires and wishes, but tries to
compliment others and invest in their lives.

"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality
and without hypocrisy." James 3:17

1 comment:

Lydia said...

This article reminded me to warn mothers of young boys to be aware that young girls who want attention, will sometimes try to frame them or set them up in a quarrel, accuse them, or find fault with them. The story of Joseph is a perfect example and a good way to illustrate this. Although he was noble and godly, he was left in a compromising position when put in charge of his master's house with the woman present. With no witnesses, she could accuse him of anything she wanted, when he didn't pay the attention to her she wanted. As he fled, she got ahold of his garment, for evidence. On a smaller scale, but no less devastating to parents, this can happen to your precious sons. Playing eagerly and innocently with little girls, they may not realize that the girls are getting upset becaue they don't pay the kind of attention to them they want. They know how easily it is to get boys in trouble. They can say that the boy said something inappropriate to them, or threw dirt on them. It may or may not be true, but in such cases, your boys should be protected from these types by only visiting and playing in the presence of parents, and never sent to a room to play, or sent to the yard to play alone.