Home | Charis Buckland

They say “the strongest man you know is a first born daughter.” I laugh! Are any of you a first-born girl? I am raising my hand! I am that girl! As the oldest, I loved babysitting my three younger siblings. The thrill of running the show was real. I always had the answers…so I thought!

On one occasion, a neighbor friend invited my brother and me over to his house when I was about ten years old. I wandered out of our backyard and over to his house without asking permission and my little brother accompanied us as well. After a short time, I realized it was probably not a good choice to have left the yard without permission and it occurred to me my mom might be worried because it was almost supper time. Sure enough, as we walked back into our yard, I heard my mom yelling my name, fearfully wondering where I was. 

Needless to say, walking out of the yard without permission was a bad idea and it endangered my little bother too. It was quite a humbling experience. 

The kids at home are learning to look out for each other and make good choices now too.

My second-born daughter had a birthday last week. Yes, what they say about the second born of the same gender is true! As she is growing and maturing, it is exciting to see how she is gaining wisdom.

At home, we are working on humility. Girls get sassy as they get older. Even though the older kids have more “life experience,” and they often feel like experts, they are not always right. Sometimes the littler ones have a great perspective or can fix something the older ones have not been able to fix. Ella Kate actually fixed the refrigerator shelves in our new refrigerator for me because I just did not have the patience for working with them.

Working with family relationships in my counseling office, we work on role-plays sometimes to learn how to better interact in problematic circumstances. With a counselor mom, my children often hear ways to better interact with each other. I am not sure they are always excited about that, but we do it anyway! (WINK) 

We can practice humility with others by saying:

Thank you for letting me know! I didn’t realize that!

You’re right, I see that now!

I was wrong! Thanks for clarifying things!

The more I practice phrases like this, the easier it becomes to humble myself when necessary. Sometimes I have to practice humility with my children too.

I also must remember to humble myself before God. I have a lot of words and a lot of opinions on how I think my life should go and how life should work. 

Do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few…a fool’s voice comes with many words.
Ecclesiastes 5:2-3

I was born with many words! I like to talk a lot! I need to be reminded many times that I am only human and I can only see what I can see. God sees everything and knows the very best plan…even when I am quite certain I know how things should go.

Despite my headstrong, first-born, strong-willed notions, I need to be listening, not just talking, to God. At times, I give Him my list of desires and wait for their deliveries. 

It is best to slow down, turn off distractions, and listen for God’s voice without hurry. I get it, life moves quickly. I often feel like Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. “I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.” He is always in a hurry and stressed out. If we can lean in and hear God’s voice, we can follow His direction with trust. Being slow to speak causes us to listen and open our hearts to Him. No matter what is happening, being held in His arms is far better than our own plans. We can rest in that.

Pic(k) of the week:

Jenna loves our kitty, so she made sure Bumble felt patriotic this Independence Day! He was thrilled!