This last weekend I got to
eat peacefully at Texas Roadhouse,
walk at leisure through the cutest craft boutique ever,
get a taste of Hobby Lobby for the first time,
go to sleep far too late after laughing for two hours,
sample Coldstone Oatmeal Cookie Batter Ice Cream and wish for more,
feel spiritually uplifted in just the way I needed....
and make a choice to become more joyful.
I traveled with my Mom and sisters to a Time Out for Women event in Logan Friday and Saturday. I have wanted to get in on one of these sessions for awhile now and looked forward to this once since spring. There are so many bits and pieces I was touched by and want to be sure to remember- here's a few favorites...
"He doesn't love us because we are perfect, He loves us because He is perfect."
"Don't you dare be the one thing standing in your way."
"It's the Storm, not You, that's bound to blow away."
"Much of our bad thinking comes about because we think of life as a contest,
as if there's only so much prestige in the world."
"If we complain about life, it's because we are thinking only of ourselves."
Remember who your children really are! Be Deliberate about Mothering.
"God is more interested in your character than your comfort." -Rick Warren
"The theme of life is Becoming, not Arriving."
As part of the theme 'Choose to Become,' everyone attending was asked to think of something they could work on becoming themselves. I quickly came to the decision that I wanted to become joyful. See, I tend to be a pessimist more than I actually care to admit.
I know life is so, so blessed.
But I also know that our challenges have been and can be really heartbreaking, crushing, real.
My naive ideals have become a hardened lack of trust in some ways.
But I know that, like I've blogged about before, Happiness is a Choice.
And that I don't choose it as often as I need to.
I know my life, as thus the lives of my husband, boys and stepsons, would be better if I did.
It is the storm that will blow away, not me or us. And in the meantime,
I do still believe that I have the ability to be choosing to be positive and willing to see beyond the wind.
I've already put my "Choose to Become" to work a bit. Fighting the boys while getting them dressed in the morning now includes singing a primary song or two in the process. Feeling like I'd rather do anything than go Visiting Teaching on top of Cub Scouts and preschool in one day? A few deep breaths and an inner reminder to choose happiness and off we go. Papers strewn all over the house with essentially the same four-year old drawings on them? A mess and a waste, but I know I will miss these fun little scribbles all too soon. I guess it's just been mostly self-talk in a forced positive direction rather than my general self-beating. All I know is I sure hope I can keep it up and really become more Joyful.
"When we have a vision of what we can become,
our power to act increases enormously."
