Whatever is Admirable

"Finally, brethren....whatever is admirable....think about such things." Philippians 4:8

Admirable: appealing, worth complimenting

It is easy to throw out compliments about someone's hair or eye makeup or how cute their purse is...and there is nothing wrong with complimenting those things. Most of us moms will take any compliment we can get on those things! But we may have a bad hair day tomorrow, not have time for eye makeup, and forget our purse. What then?

Some things are more worth complimenting than others, like:

• Faithfulness when a husband is struggling to be the man he needs to be


• Trust when it seems your whole world is struggling


• Patience when the activity of your family is beyond the strength of the average woman


• Joy that is freely handed out to others, no matter the inner turmoil in your heart

Those are the kind of things that are really worth complimenting, the kind of thing that shows we value what is admirable - rather than just value what is on the surface.

With the kids: God is really good to moms. We have so many opportunities to practice our character with great little forgivers, before we have to test it on grown ups. Kids thrive with good compliments, and we can practice complimenting things that matter - good behavior, cheerfulness, being a helper, showing kindness to someone, patience when mommy is busy, etc., etc., etc.