Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Do The Right Thing

I just spent a nice family weekend away, celebrating my father-in-law's 70th birthday. While we were away, I felt inspired to tell you about my sister-in-law. For the purposes of this blog, she will be known as "Baby Bird" - a nickname given to her by her daddy when she was just a little girl.

Baby Bird is a loving wife and mother to three great kids. She's been my friend since my freshman year at Messiah, when she came to visit her brother for a Little Sibs weekend. He wasn't The Boss yet, just a good friend who needed a place for his sister to sleep for the visit. Over the years that The Boss and I were forming a friendship and deepening our relationship, my friendship with her also grew. But the deeper, more intimate knowledge of each other has come in the years since we started raising these wild, crazy cousins together. Going through parenting together has given us a common ground from which to learn from each other - and I've learned a lot from her.

Over the years, I've seen Baby Bird make hard choices and learn how to make boundaries for herself in many of her relationships. And I've seen her Do The Right Thing, often at cost to herself. When a friendship was getting sticky and strained, Baby Bird chose to Do The Right Thing and confront the tension head on. When her child was struggling in the private school setting, she explored the options and chose to Do The Right Thing for that child and home school. When she meets someone in need and is confronted with a choice, she chooses to Do The Right Thing for that need. She often sacrifices her time and her money and her creative energies for her church family and her neighbors & friends. "Do The Right Thing" is a strong character trait that has cut a wide swath across her heart and consequently is embedding itself in her kids' hearts. Those who know her know that she is a woman of strong convictions and principles. But she doesn't just mouth service to those convictions - she acts on them. She lives the ideal of "Do The Right Thing."

It's been a privilege to see her grow and change and choose. She chooses to Do The Right Thing regularly with grace and compassion and conviction. And I'm proud to be her sister. And I'm proud to learn from her life.

1 comment:

Kelli said...

Beautiful. What a tribute to your sister-in-law. How absolutely wonderful that you have these amazing people in your life. She sounds like someone I would love to get to know.