A Wednesday Word: making wednesday worthwhile

pas·sive [pas-iv]
–adjective
1. not reacting visibly to something that might be expected to produce manifestations of an emotion or feeling.
2. not participating readily or actively; inactive: a passive member of a committee.
3. not involving visible reaction or active participation: to play a passive role.

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I've noticed that there is a lot of advice on how to be a good parent, how to have a good relationship, how to be a good friend, etc. More than that though, I've noticed that specific advice often transcends what it addresses - it is universal. I read this last fall and it has stuck with me. Sometimes it may seem like common sense. But when this sort of advice resonates in your being, it is more than common sense - it is TRUTH!

No enemy is more subtle than passivity. When parents are passive,
they may eventually discipline, but by then the delayed reaction is often
carried out in anger. Passivity waits and waits until finally, when it can wait
no longer, it comes down with both feet! When that happens, children are not
disciplined, they are brutalized. Passivity not only blinds us to
the here and now, it makes us inconsistent.
by Charles R. Swindoll, Great Days with the Great Lives,
italics added by Mimi Marquez

I think at one time or another we have all encountered passivity and the dreaded "explosion." Wow, how passivity doesn't do us any good!! It causes more damage than we are willing to admit.