Backyard Discretion: A Primer

Below is a guest post from my writer friend Maleah Warner which I wanted to share here because I loved it. I also wanted to share it here because someone recently told me they won't share my blogposts because I occasionally talk about religion on my blog, not just self-reliance. That comment made me want to share more things about religion, not less. If you don't see God in the backyard, what's the point of trying for a backyard renaissance? So without further ado, here is a beautiful and smart contribution to our renaissance from Maleah:

Lately, I've been thinking about praying for discretion.

I already pray for Wisdom.

I've done this for years, because although I can be slow to figure some things out, it didn't take me too long to realize that I am pretty stupid on my own.

I also pray for Faith and for Charity. By myself, I'm not so good at either one of those. So I'm a bit hesitant to add more to the already lengthy list of attributes I need to develop, but this prayer thing really works. 

You can pray for anything. I pray to find the video camera memory card because I need to record the 5th grade play in one hour. I pray to be a better visiting teacher. When I'm not in the mood to pray, I pray, "Please help me to  want to pray."

Let's face it, the monotony of life gets heavy and sometimes I want to throw in the whole load of towels.

Most days I just pray, "Please help me want to do the laundry."

And it works, it really does.

For example, several years ago I decided that I took life way too seriously and that I needed to develop a sense of humor, so I started praying for  humor. Then (like most things) I forgot about it, until a year or so later I came across a page in my journal where I had written: Things to pray for: *Humor

And I realized that I am funnier that I used to be. I promise. I am.

So about this discretion thing…

In a church lesson about honesty, a lady asked, "If my friend asks me if her hair looks bad, and it does, do I tell her the truth?"

Another lady said, you can be honest and discrete. You can use good judgment in your honesty."

So I got to thinking about Discretion and all its synonyms: Care, Consideration, Deliberateness, Diplomacy, Foresight, Good Sense, Good Judgment, Gumption, Maturity, Presence of Mind, Prudence, Thoughtfulness, Tact, and Wisdom.  

If one word can include all that, then I think there is room on my prayer list for one more word.

You can read more from Maleah at maleahwarner.com.