...and then in the middle of my monstrous attitude, I was suddently slapped in the face with this little reminder of the fruits of the Spirit. Ah, conviction. And after a great Bible lesson this morning on endurance, I was again reminded of the Lord working in my life, and in His perfect plan for me allowing difficulties to shape me and cause me to grow in a way that pleases Him...however big or small these things may be.
Messes to clean up, attitudes from the kids, winter lingering...these can be accepted with joy and thanksgiving if I view them from the hand of God working in my life. I'm convinced--as I've seen it a bit too much in my own life recently--that grumbling leads to a lack of thankfulness..which leads to a lack of joy and general unhappiness, discontent, etc.
One thing I need to start up again is keeping a "Blessings Book" ..a little journal or notebook to record daily blessings. It's too easy to let myself be weighed down with my child's miserable outbursts rather than to enjoy his pizazzy personality and extra spunk that he has. (It's NEVER dull around here!)
So that's what I've been struggling with lately... One other tool that I would highly recommend having around your house is this:
What, you've never seen one? It's a Grumpy Box, in which you can discard all of your grumpies, grumbles, complaints and bad attitudes. You might have to look closely to notice the angry monster face, with a "sniff, sniff" by his nose, a "no no" coming out of his mouth, and "stomp" by his foot. There is also a warning lable on top. "It is grumpi in heyr." Just don't keep this ugly thing out in the open. ;)My blessings list of today:
1. A very sweet "I wuv you" before naptime, erasing the difficult lunch hour from my middle child.
2. A few mucousy/cracker-flavored kisses on the cheek from the Judester
3. A WARM sunshiny day--I think we'll make a spontaneous trip to the park.
4. Nice long naps from the boys...and likely an early bedtime tonight. ;)
4 comments:
Great stuff Anna--and the thing I most struggle with too. In Sunday school this past week Josh's dad mentioned patience is the opposite of pride, and when I think about that I realize whenever I have "lost" my patience it is because I think I deserve better (like you more sleep, less messes, kids not fighting . . .). That hit home. I may need to make myself a grumpy box too--great idea!
Oh, and one more thing that has helped my mind frame--when I see that sink full of dishes, or the 13 loads of laundry that need to get done I try to remember WHY it's there, and the why is this big wonderful family that I always dreamed of--God gave me! Cleaning up their messes means they're actually here to clean up after. God is good. (And for the times I forget, there is always chocolate . . . I think they call that self-medicating though . . .) ;o)
Thank you for sharing this, Anna! *So* well said and an encouragement and challenge to me as well! Facing similar issues over here, too and I'm quite sure our "Grumpy Box" would have to be a bit bigger.....something like refrigerator size???!!! And somehow, it just seems appropriate to stick the "Froot uv the Speerit" sticky note on a monster hat. hee hee
Love this Anna- thank you for sharing your heart! I'm glad to finally pop in again and catch up on your blog/happenings. Realllllly want to jump into blogging again- hopefully soon. Hugs to y'all!
(my word verif. is gratia- would that be latin for gratitude, I wonder?? fitting for your post!) :)
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