There is a Cherrios commercial on TV these days that show a little boy taking breakfast into his dad. Dad is sleepy, but he says, "What’s this buddy?" The boy answers "Breakfast." "It’s awfully early." Dad eats his Cherrios and thanks his son, saying, "That was very thoughtful, very early, but very thoughtful."

Dad could have reacted in a very different way. He could have told the boy to put the stuff back in the kitchen and to go back to bed. However, dad recognized his son was trying to do something good for him.

My mom had a Griswold cast iron skillet, well seasoned. One day I cleaned it for her. I took steel wool and cleaned it. My mom did not come unglued, she understood my motives and treated me gently and kindly. She did explain, later, that cleaning the cast iron skillet with steel wool was not the best thing to do.

What is my point in telling these two stories? Just this, many times people try to do something nice for us and we fail to recognize the motive. Some people cannot approach anything without criticism. It is very difficult to work on doing something nice for someone just to have the work criticized. It makes the person doing the work less willing to make that mistake again.

When someone has tried to do something for us, we should look beyond what is done and accept the motive in the heart of the person do it.

The Apostle Paul wrote to Titus, "Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men." (Titus 3:1-2 (NIV))

Mothers very often praise the little treasures their kids bring home from school on Mother’s Day, even though it is really ugly and useless. They do this because they can see beyond the object to the motive behind it.

Frankly, we all need to look at the things others do for us with an eye to the motive. If we can see the motive, then we can truly be thankful and express our gratitude for the love and devotion that went into the work.

If we allow those things, big or small, that others do for us, to reach our heart, it will humble us and should cause us to be considerate of that person’s feelings. Humility, gratitude, and consideration are three Keys to Life and loving relationships.