I am so thankful for this post by my friend, Bev. As I walk through my own grief and sadness this summer, Bev reminds me that grief does not need to control my life. I will experience it fully, but it won’t rule over me.
Please take to heart the wise words of a woman who knows grief and lives with perspective.
What I have learned about grief.
Be Extraordinary!
This is a great post on grief by my friend Bev. I am experiencing my own grief and loss this summer and am so encouraged in this post to not let grief rule my whole summer, or even my whole day. After experiencing grief fully it’s ok to say “no more!”
Take Bev’s wise words to heart today.
Be Extraordinary!
Grief is sneaky. Out of the blue grief sneaks up on me. I do my best to prepare for the anniversaries, the times I know it will be hard. But it pops up, unwanted and unexpected.
Grief is strong. When grief hits it can take me down to the ground. Swiftly, I am out of breath and drowning.
Grief does not play fair. I make deals with grief, it can come when I am prepared, when I am ready to take it on, we have an agreement. Grief does not always abide by that agreement.
Grief is a thief. It sneaks in, uninvited, like a bull in a china shop, breaking our agreement and tries to steal my joy.
This is what I have learned about my grief. I say “my grief”, because everyone has a different grief visiting them, not all griefs are the same.
I have learned to…
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Be Extraordinary!
(I’m Traci, the “Be Extraordinary!” blogger. I share insights that challenge and encourage moms to be the best version of themselves. To me, that’s an extraordinary life! Click HERE to receive blog updates and a free newsletter.)
Patience. From one mom’s heart to another.
If I am honest, I do not always show patience to my children, even though they are so valuable to me and I love them so much. Patience shows that what my children have to say is important and worth hearing. When I am patient, I wait to hear the whole story before I begin to speak and before I formulate responses in my mind. Patience allows God’s wisdom and love to catch up with my initial emotional responses. Patience affords me the space to think clearly and respond to my children’s actions, attitudes, and words with love.
I want to love my children with patience. I want to value their opinions, ideas, and thoughts. I want to value what they, as young people, have to offer. I want to pause long enough to truly hear all of the great and wonderful things they have to say.
Child of Mine: You are funny. You are adorable. You are innocent. You are thoughtful. You are smart. You are creative. You are unique. You are bold. You are a dreamer. You are hopeful. You are beautiful.
If I don’t respond with patience I miss all of these beautiful thoughts, words, actions, and feelings.
Child of Mine: You are hurting. You are angry. You are sad. You are misunderstood. You are in conflict. You are searching. You are hoping. You are wanting. You are lonely. You are afraid.
If I don’t respond with patience I miss all of these emotions that are shaping their lives and future choices from the inside out. Without patience, I will also miss out on the opportunity to walk the path of their lives alongside them.
I have so much to offer my children, but I lose the platform for sharing and communicating my ideas with them when I don’t take time to hear what they are saying, with and without words. So often, I want to get my thoughts out. I want to have influence over their decisions. I do this out of love for them, but it doesn’t come across that way when it is not done with patience. I can’t control their future choices or change their past choices by talking at them every chance I get.
Ultimately, I don’t want their silent obedience. I want a relationship with them. I want them to relate beautifully with God. I want them to live a life full of impact, faith, love, and the realization of their greatest dreams. This relationship I desire is not solely dependent on them. It begins with me.
Moms, will you join me in the following commitments?
I choose to be quick to listen and slow to speak.
I choose to listen to the entire story before I formulate thoughts or words of response.
The answer may not always be yes, but I choose to listen with the intent to understand my child’s heart.
I choose to be patient.
Moms: Be Extraordinary!
The subconscious. Inner promptings. The Holy Spirit. Women’s intuition. Gut feelings. The little voice inside my head.
Whatever you believe it is or whatever you choose to call it, consider how well you listen and how well you act on what you hear.
“Do you listen?”
Everyone is busy, or at least they feel busy. There is very little quiet space in our lives and in our minds. I have seen in my own life the difficulty of being ok in the quiet spaces. Those spaces can be filled with many things like playing out scenarios in my mind, movies, TV shows, social media, or You Tube videos. All of this “noise” keeps me from truly listening to any instincts or prompts that might be happening. It is important to silence the chatter long enough to listen for that still, small voice.
Listening and hearing what we ought or ought not to do is just one part of the equation.
“Do you act upon what you hear?”
All of us, if we are honest, can think of a time when we did not follow the voice inside that said to do or not do something.
Have you ever felt like you should send a card to someone but didn’t do it?
Have you ever thought you ought to approach “that person” about business, but you were too afraid?
Have you ever thought the words “I love you” or considered a loving touch, but did not verbalize or take action?
What opportunities, feelings, or relationships have we missed out on because we were unwilling to respond when that little voice spoke?
There is so much good to be done and love to be spread in this world if we would only listen and then act on what we hear.
STOP! Silence the chatter. Ask yourself,
Is there an action that I should take right now?
Is there a word I ought to speak to the person next to me?
Is there something I could do right now to make a difference in someone’s day?
Listen. Act. And then share what difference that small deed or word made in your day.
Be Extraordinary!
I enjoy the cozy, comfy, home-focused writing that Becca shares in her blog. I am excited to share her thoughts and insights with you for this final day of the blog-venture.
“Today is the day where we all remember to be thankful. As we sit around a turkey feast, grabbing a third piece of pie, and sharing what and who we are grateful for, our hearts are filled.
Remembering the good, the blessings, the love steadies the mind and reassures the heart that all will be okay — God has provided and will continue to provide. . .”
Continue reading HERE.
Thank you for following this 7 day blog-venture. I hope you have enjoyed looking at thanksgiving and gratitude from some different perspectives. I also hope you have been challenged and encouraged. And finally, I hope that you have found some great new blogs to follow and enjoy.
If you missed any of the 7 blogs in 7 days by 7 bloggers, you will find the links below.
Day 1, Me
Day 2, Terry
Day 3, Bev
Day 4, Joe
Day 5, Tom
Day 6, Danny
Be Extraordinary!
(I’m Traci, the “Be Extraordinary!” blogger. I share insights that challenge and encourage moms to be the best version of themselves. To me, that’s an extraordinary life! Click HERE to receive blog updates and a free newsletter.)
Photo credit: Marcus Rahm / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA
Today’s blog post, “Best.Thanksgiving. Ever.”, comes to you from Danny Ray. Danny gives us a dose of perspective for Thanksgiving by taking a look at Noah’s attitude and gratitude.
“Can you picture Noah’s face when he saw the first rainbow? He just spent the last year on a boat with his family. 365+ days with his family! A year with his daughter-in-laws and his soon to be cursed son, Ham! How much Bingo, Monopoly and Scrabble can one family play? Imagine spending Thanksgiving with your entire family for a year with no place to go. . .”
Continue reading HERE.
In case you’ve missed any days so far, here are the links:
Day 1, Me
Day 2, Terry
Day 3, Bev
Day 4, Joe
Day 5, Tom
Be Extraordinary!
(I’m Traci, the “Be Extraordinary!” blogger. I share insights that challenge and encourage moms to be the best version of themselves. To me, that’s an extraordinary life! Click HERE to receive blog updates and a free newsletter.)
It is Day 5 of the Thanksgiving Blog-Venture: 7 blogs in 7 days by 7 bloggers. Today’s post comes from Tom who is full of wisdom, humor, and a love for pie! He has some great Thanksgiving thoughts and perspective to share with us today.
“That time of year is here again. We have said goodbye to another summer and are now in the dwindling days of fall. If you live in Northern Michigan, I think we skipped over the last half of fall, and we are now knee deep in winter! Fall is one of my favorite times of year. The leaves changes, the sun takes on a different glow, there is a crispness in the air, and my thoughts turn to Thanksgiving – and pie! . . .”
Continue reading by clicking HERE.
Don’t forget to give some blog love to Tom while you’re there by leaving a comment or like.
In case you’ve missed any days so far, here are the links:
Be Extraordinary!
(I’m Traci, the “Be Extraordinary!” blogger. I share insights that challenge and encourage moms to be the best version of themselves. To me, that’s an extraordinary life! Click HERE to receive blog updates and a free newsletter.)
I hope you are enjoying this focus on Thanksgiving and hearing from other great bloggers. Today’s post is by my favorite blogger – my husband, Joe!!
Joe says . . .
This is day four of a seven-part series on Thanksgiving. I’m honored to participate in a blog-hop with 7 friends, over 7 days all about Thanksgiving. You can read the previous blogs by clicking on the links below:
Over the past month, I’ve been working on memorizing Colossians chapter three. In God’s funny way of putting things together, I was in the middle of verses 15-17 when I read these words…
Continue reading by clicking HERE.
Be Extraordinary!
(I’m Traci, the “Be Extraordinary!” blogger. I share insights that challenge and encourage moms to be the best version of themselves. To me, that’s an extraordinary life! Click HERE to receive blog updates and a free newsletter.)
Day 3 of the Thanksgiving Blog-Venture: 7 days. 7 blogs. 7 bloggers.
A couple years ago I chose “joyful” as my word for the year. By focusing on joy and reading books about joy my ability to choose joy improved radically. Today’s blog, by Bev, is a beautiful presentation of how choosing the word gratitude for a year literally changed every area of her life. I think you will enjoy and be challenged. Read Bev’s blog post and give her some blog love by leaving a comment. You will find her post HERE.
Be Extraordinary!
(I’m Traci, the “Be Extraordinary!” blogger. I share insights that challenge and encourage moms to be the best version of themselves. To me, that’s an extraordinary life! Click HERE to receive blog updates and a free newsletter.)
Be Extraordinary! 