Today’s Gift

There is a proper balance between not asking enough of oneself and asking or expecting too much.

—May Sarton

The boy’s mother baked pies that morning before he was up. She left them on the back porch to cool, their warm aroma curling up through his bedroom window. His mouth was full of the smell when he woke.

Before she left for work, she said, “You may do anything you want today, anything at all. Except for one thing – don’t step in those pies.”

All day the boy could not get the pies out of his mind; his feet itched just thinking about them.

Don’t step in those pies. He heard her voice inside his head. By late afternoon he could control it no longer. One, two, three, four, five, six–his foot fell squarely into the middle of each pie.

When we expect the worst from others, we often get just that. The same goes for our expectations of ourselves. And when we trust others, it too is returned.

Do I expect the best of others–and myself–today?

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