Being Thankful

I have been thinking alot today about being thankful. There are so many times that I have gone each day with out being thankful for all that I have. I have so much to be thankful for. I have found out that by realising what I am thankful for and being appreciative of it makes my day so much better.

I have a wonderful family. My husband is a wonderful man that works so hard to take care of us. There are times that it is hard, but we work together and stick with it we can make it through anything. My children are so funny, they make me see the wonder in the world. They are teaching me patience. They are teaching me unconditional love. My parents are so supportive of me. They show me how to be a wonderful parent. My sister shows me how beautiful people are. How they can care and be there for you no matter what. I have learned so many great lessons from them.

There are so many people that I have not met that have changed my life. I love listening to podcasts, expecially the ones associated by SQPN. These are wonderful faith filled people. They have shared there faith and lives with us though there podcasts. Through this faith, I am able to find my faith and find how I want to live my life. They are people that will never know how much they touch lives, but they really do.

My online friends through all of the social media sites have taught me how taking some time for people you don't know makes them feel special. Every time I get a response to something I put out there it makes me feel special.

Even people who have come into my life and have left. Each of them have taught me something new. They have helped to shape my life. They have each taught me some lessons. Some are through the good that we have shared, some are from things that are not so good. But each lesson has helped me become a better and stronger person.

So many times we can go through out the day with out being thankful. It is an amazing gift we have. This gift can help us become better people and can help shape our lives.

Count Your Blessings

Count Your Blessings

Count your blessings instead of your crosses;

Count your gains instead of your losses.

Count your joys instead of your woes;

Count your friends instead of your foes.

Count your smiles instead of your tears;

Count your courage instead of your fears.

Count your full years instead of your lean;

Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.

Count your health instead of your wealth;

Love your neighbor as much as yourself.

Author unknown

While reading today I found this. How true. We can change our life by just counting the good, learning from the bad. We can find our blessings by stepping back and knowing that they are there and they make a difference. Each time we count a blessing we are making our life, and our outlook so much better.

Yesterday I learned alot about counting my blessings. My uncle was in an accident 5 years ago. His life has completely changed. He can no longer live on his own, and needs constant help and supervision. It was his birthday, and seeing the family together, laughing and having a good time was wonderful. We were all looking at our blessings. Telling stories of the good. Living our lives to the fullest. Watching the children play, laugh, and learn.

We did not look at the bad. The fact that everything has change, not only for him, but for all of us. We did not look at the trials that he has and still has to go through, we were happy to be together, to celebrate, to laugh and to love. That is amazing. To take the time to count the good and learn from the bad is a wonderful gift we have, we can share and we should share.

The Storms of Life

So I was thinking yesterday, something that is not so easily done at times but I try. I was watching a rain storm, it blew in quickly, rained hard, and blew out just as quickly. What a blessing, with summer and high temperatures here, it watered my garden, watered the grass, how much good it did. At the same time it started to flood parking lots and streets, brought in some tornado warnings. How can something so good, also do so much destruction.

By looking at the storm, and thinking about what was around me I realized that so many blessings in life are this way. Look at our children. What a blessing - unconditional love, hugs, kisses - they are truly something to be grateful for. On the other hand - what a big destruction of your body, your house, your sanity and your patience. Same can be said for animals, and other people in your life. But if you choose to look at them in that way, nothing good can or will come out of it. Everything in live has the good, the bad and the ugly attached to it. It is how you choose to look at it, and how you choose to handle it that will make the difference.

With everything there is good and bad. With every storm there is destruction and there are blessings. The challenge is to find the blessings. With the water, it provides life. It gives us something our body needs to continue going. It allows us to become clean, and clean things like dishes and laundry. It is a source of entertainment. It quenches thirst. It helps our food grow. We could not live without water. In the same breath you can say it destroys life. Too much water can hurt plants, can cause death, can cause destruction. Look at hurricanes, so much destruction comes with them.

The challenge is to take the bad and find the good. Take the people that are a challenge for you and find the good in them. We have been giving the choice of free will, lets us it to change the world.

Take the rain storm, while there was destruction, leaves and branches down in my back yard, toys moved, there was a lot of good that came out of it. The plants got water they need to grow. It cooled down outside. What a blessing.

Finding Blessings

Each day I try to take a look at my life and find a blessing in it. Something I find rough. Something that I find challenging. Something where I would never find a blessing before. This is a challenge. I find that by doing this I am working on changing my view point from glass half empty to glass half full. I never realized how hard that was to do. But being that it is hard to do, it is the most rewarding thing that I have ever done. Each and every day I am finding that there are different blessings around me. Blessings that have always been there, but I have never noticed.

Each day I wake up to two beautiful smiling children. I am still tired and I don't want to get up. I have taken this as a burden. Now I am working to change this into a blessing. They are beautiful. They are happy to see me. They are refreshed and ready to start another day. I have food on my table. Taking the time to prepare can be rough, but the fact is that I am blessed to have food available. I am blessed to be able to make food that is good for myself and for my family.

Taking the time each and every day to find the blessings in my life is such a rewarding experience. It is so easy to take for granted what you have in front of you, but to take the time to see that it is a blessing, means so much more.

Growing a Garden

With the rising costs of food, and the rising costs of gas I have decided to start a new adventure of growing a garden. I have nine plants I have planted to start with. So far two of them have some vegitables growing. Others have flowers, so it looks like they may produce some vegitables.

I never realized how much time and effort goes into growing a garden. Getting the soil ready was so hard. My back yard has a lot of clay and rock. So I had to find a place to put my garden that would not have so much of that, but have soil that would allow my plants to take root and grow. Using the tiller was alot of hard work on my arms. I had a lot of blood, sweat and tears go into getting the soil ready. Looking back that is how I feel when I start out a new class. They all need to have some time put into them. They are not ready to receive the holy spirit but through the blood, sweat and tears that I put into the classes through preparation and through teaching I am getting them ready to receive the seed that the holy spirit so it can grow.

Then I had to plant the plants. I had to dig a hole that is deep enough for the roots to take, but shallow enough that the plant can continue to grow towards the sky and the sun. That was was difficult because I wanted to just do it myself, but had my son help me. I learned patience with that. He wanted to help, he wanted to be apart of the garden. I knew that I could do it by myself and get it done faster, but the pride in his face for doing it with me was worth the time put into it. I taught him how to plant the flowers. We talked about them growing. We talked about different things. It was a great time working with him to get the garden ready. Taking a step back I need to do this with my class. As much as I just want to do things myself because it will be faster, I need to enjoy the time it takes for them to help me out, and use it as a learning experience. Watch there roots start to find a place to stay and them blossom into beautiful young men and woman.

Remembering to water the plants every day is proving to be a challenge. Sometimes it rains and I have nothig to do, other days I have to remember to water the garden. And learning that there are better times in the day to water the garden was a hard lesson to learn. It is easier to do it during the middle of the day when we are playing outside but it is not always the best time to do it. Being patient and knowing that by waiting to the right time the plants will get the most out of the water I provide is a hard lesson to learn. Same with my class and children. There are times that they are going to soak up all of the knowledge I put in front of them, there are other times when it is just not a good time. Being patient is the best way to teach and have your words and lessons be heard.

Waiting is what we are doing right now. We have to wait until the vegitables are ready before we pick them. Seeing the little buds start to grow, watching what they are turning into is exciting, but waiting is hard to do. I want to pick them now but they are not ready. Same with my children. I need to step back and watch them grow. Wait, it will happen, and the rewards will be great. Same as with my class. I may not see the results in the year, but I need to know in my heart that I have made there garden ready, know that I have planted and taken care of the seed, and trust that it will blossom into something beautiful.

Giving Time to Others

Taking time out of your busy day is hard to do . It is not easily given to others. We all have so much to battle each and every day. For instance being a stay at home mother, I have to take care of my children, play with them, clean the house, do the laundry, take care of the pets, make sure that every one is fed, teach my children, do the shopping, take them to the doctor, and so many other things. Most of these I have to do on a daily basis. I feel that my day is constantly going, I hardly have time for myself, and now I have to give to others. Why?

What a great question. Why would we want to give our time to others? Well because it is the right thing to do, first of all. It is also fills a space in our hearts, that we are doing something good for others. What a great lesson to teach our children, that everyone is important. If we need help we would want to have others help us, right?

We have extra time that we can give, if we just take the time to find it. Can we step away from the computer for a while and give that time to others? Can we step away from the television? Can we find the time in our heart to give... yes, we just have to have the want to do it. With the will we always find a way. A great example of this is when we want to exercise. If we really want to do this we find it in our hearts, the time to set aside for it. Same with volunteering, find the will in our heart and we will find the time in our day.

Finding the good in everyone

There are some days that it is hard to find the good in people. People who you have felt have done you wrong. People who are different. People that just stopped talking to you. People who you love. Finding good in people is not an easy task. Actually it is probably one of the hardest things we have to face. Especially with the struggles that are out there in this world. The pressures to be better than some one else. The pressure to succeed.

I remember as a child being told that I needed to be more like my sister. She always found something good in everyone, even people she did not care for. She would always find a way to compliment them. I never understood how you could do that. How can you compliment someone that you just don't like. How can you find something good about them. If someone has hurt you, why would you even want to find something good about them.

Now as I am growing older and experiencing so many new things, and raising children I see what my mother was talking about. We need to find the good in others. It is not a hard thing to do. Everyone has some good quailties about them. You have to focus and find it. Know that no matter what has happened that you can tak the time to find the good, and in turn you are showing that you can do it. You might have to look harder in some people than others but know that it is worth it to find the good in everyone.