I want to give you some tips today that have always helped me. Love is gentle and kind. That’s in Corinthians 13 in the Bible. It’s used a lot in wedding services. It also needs to be used after the wedding services to keep that gentleness and kindness in.

I’ve seen people who use either sarcasm or abruptness in public that embarrasses the other partner or the children. We have to know and understand that when these things occur, we have a responsibility to let out family know that they come first in our lives.

Even when we don’t get along or see problems or there is something going on, we can back away and not constantly say, “You should be doing this. You ought to be doing this.”

We should say, “I love you the way that you are. I love you unconditionally. You can be angry with me, and I’ll still love you. You can do things that I would not have done myself, and I’ll still love you. You can be anything you want to be, and I will still love you.

“I don’t always have to agree with you. I will set boundaries of what can go on in my house about what I do not choose to have in my life, but I’ll still love you,” and keep a smile on our faces.

Some of the things people, especially children, don’t realize about love from parents is that there are some of us who constantly wear a frown.

I was taking one of my daughters on her first day of school. She was afraid. I went in with her, and she was holding onto me and trembling. She wasn’t normally afraid of anything. I kept saying, “Honey, what’s the matter?” She said, “She doesn’t like us.” I said, “Who doesn’t like you?” She said, “The teacher.”

The teacher had been late getting in. They usually have a sign posted outside of that room that lists all of the kids. She hadn’t had time to put it up, so as the children came in, they would call out their names.

She was flipping through this list to check off the names. She had this frown on her face. Every child in the room was deathly afraid because she was frowning. She was frowning because she was concentrating on the names on the list.

Frowns make a difference in our attitudes. It’s hard to be happy and radiate love when you’re frowning. Try it. Keep a smile on your face. After awhile, it becomes normal. You will feel better when you’re smiling.

I took two of my daughters shopping one day as teenagers because they were eighteen months apart. After about three hours, they had found absolutely nothing that fit right. I said “Let’s go home.”

We went out to the car. I sat down and said, “Whew!” They both said, “What did I do?” I said, “What do you mean?” She said, “What did I do? You always sigh when you’re angry.” I said, “No, I sigh because it feels good.” Take a deep breath and let it out. It feels good. Other people see it in a different way.

Anne