A Firm Handshake

Over at CatholicMom.com, I offer a weekly feature entitled Teaching Moments.  This feature, written by gifted educator John Bishop, focuses on helping parents raise happy, caring and responsible children.  Each week, John offers advice on turning small situations into "teaching moments" and many of his messages focus on our teens, who are so close to the brink of adulthood.

This week, John looks at the Importance of a Firm Handshake.   We grownups might do well to focus on this particular Teaching Moment ourselves.  In our home, the boys attend "cotillion" in sixth grade – this formal course focuses on social manners and graces.  My oldest went to cotillion with great anticipation, but the youngest had to be dragged kicking and screaming.  Ironically, his shyness made it all the more necessary for us to focus on teaching him proper manners.  As a mom, I feel that it is particularly important for my young men to learn to greet, converse with, and show respect for the adults they meet along life's path.  Our codeword "cotillion manners" is a reminder to look the adult directly in the eye, to offer a firm handshake, and to listen respectfully.

We Catholics have the opportunity to practice giving and receiving caring greetings each Sunday at Mass during the Sign of Peace.  Since initially reading John's Teaching Moment, I have tried to focus greater effort on truly participating in this part of the Mass, rather than just "going through the motions".  For me, this means taking time to actually look at and communicate with the people seated around me in a "quality over quantity" approach.

Our initial greetings with the people we meet are more important than just creating a good first impression for a potential business contact.  Each greeting is an opportunity to shed a little bit of Christ's light and His wonderful love in our own corners of the world.  Taking that extra moment to truly see the heart of the person we are greeting may be an invitation to serve that person in a special way as Christ would want us to serve him.

I'm practicing my handshake this week, but am also working to stop, look at and listen to the people God is putting in my path – who knows what I'll learn along the way. 

By

Lisa Hendey, Catholic wife and mom, is the founder and webmaster of www.CatholicMom.com and the author of A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms: 52 Companions for Your Heart, Mind, Body and Soul and The Handbook for Catholic Moms: Nurturing Your Heart, Mind, Body and Soul. Lisa writes for several online and print publications, enjoys speaking around the country and hosts the Catholic Moments Podcast. Visit her at LisaHendey.com.

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