First Baptist Church of Herndon

Mixed Emotions

Linda Soller | Aug 07, 2017

August is a month for mixed emotions. Your young child is about to start a new school year. You are sad their summer break will end, but you are also happy their summer break will end. Just being honest here. Your older child is off to college. You are happy for them to start this exciting time of their life, but you are sad you will not be with them every day. You wish your vacation could have been longer. But you are sort of glad to be back in a familiar routine. Whatever changes are taking place in your life it can be good to have mixed emotions.

Mixed emotions illustrate that you’re able to see two sides of an event or an issue. The ability to see more than one side of change allows you to be more thoughtful, empathetic, and most of the time more positive. I watched a TED Talk the other day and the speaker said it’s easier for humans to go from a positive feeling to a negative one than to go from a negative feeling to feeling positive one. So, we “half full” people must work hard to stay in a positive frame of mind.

Recently our church sent our intern off to seminary. She grew up in our church, meandered, and returned to work with our children and youth. On the day she left we all struggled somewhere between tears and joy. We are all so excited for her calling and know firsthand she will serve God well. We are all going to miss her. We have mixed emotions. In this case the sadness is selfish. It comes from a place of loss. The joy is just the opposite as we envision her future. The secret is to own both emotions and see them for what they are, natural human reactions to our situation.

Treasure your mixed emotions when you have them. Let them provide you with insight into the world around you. Use them to bolster you into action. Allow them to soften a blow, temper your ego, or let your spirit fly. Lucky you!  You get to feel two emotions not just one!

Have a great week!    :o)  Linda

We will miss you K and at the same time we could not be prouder of you or more excited for you. You are a blessing.