Be Who You Want Them To Be

(Thank you, thank you for your words of wisdom on my last post! I'm still in the process of writing you all back (some of you are no-reply bloggers! tsk tsk) but I'll get there. I do appreciate your thoughtful words. )

Everyone's favorite thing to do on social media for years running is to post what they're thankful for every day in November. Me? I don't want to deal with all those notifications. But isn't Thanksgiving a wonderful time to remember what all we're thankful for (uhhh, duhh)? Yesterday, a friend mentioned that as a society, we probably skip over Thanksgiving to Christmas because- what's commercial about thanking God for His blessings? It's much more like us to want to buy gifts and receive gifts.

I don't want to skip over Thanksgiving here.

Recently, I've been putting little reminders all over our house. Have you seen my mantel? It says, "Give Thanks". On my refrigerator, there's a note scribbled on the dry erase board that reads, "Count your blessings". Plus I can look into the baby blues of my son and have a flood of thankful thoughts consume me. Opportunities are everywhere!

They're not just in the good things of life, though. Realizing you're blessed can come from the negative experiences, too. Yesterday, someone tried to hurt me with words. While it's not the first time, it was the first time that I decided to take that and make something positive of it instead of wallowing in the thinking that nothing will ever change. I prayed to God and asked Him to give me the reaction He wanted. I asked Him to mold me into the person He wanted me to be. You know what He said? He led me to these words-

Source: playtimebreak.blogspot.com via Mrs. on Pinterest

Isn't that convicting? I started to pray that I could be a better example for K and A. I imagined them as young men and envisioned them being strong yet kind in their interactions with others. I will be their first example to model and I won't mess that up. I look to the examples that I had in my life and feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude that God gave me the mother that He did. She's the voice of reason, the sometimes Pollyanna that I need to hear from (Thanks, Mom). It doesn't stop there, though. I'm also surrounded by other women in my family that I can look up to. For that, I'm forever grateful...and determined to make it that way for my own children, too.

There's no room for bitterness in my house today or any other day. We've got too much to be thankful for!