A Naxi Saying

I've never learned Naxi, nor cared about it when I was a child, but there was one thing that my Naxi mother taught me that will always stay. It is a saying, "ma ni ma ni la ha chou!"?

This saying means you say you do not want it, and yet you stretch your hand out to receive it. This saying has stayed with me all these years and will always stay. It shows some Naxi humor in describing inconsistency in what one says and what one means or actually does. It captures an unfortunate human reality, not saying yes when meaning yes, nor saying no when meaning no.?

Now as a father, I begin to appreciate what my children bring. They are consistent. They do not lie about how they feel. If they are happy, their voices tell. Their feet leap. If they are sad, their faces show. Their bodies sack. They do not necessarily explain why they feel that way, but it is evident whether they are happy or sad.?

Today I am pondering how I can serve with what I have. I begin to realize that my tongue is one. It can be a channel of deception, not telling what I really want, or a channel of grace and encouragement and truth, to build others, including my children up. My Naxi mother has long departed, but her teaching remains. May my life testify her teaching that no one, in heaven or on earth, will say, "Here stands one who is ma ni ma ni la ha chou!" Rather, let it be, "a man of truth in whom not any deception can be found."