UNGLUED

It's one of those days where the clouds are covering the city, the weeds actually look pretty outside, the boys are still napping (WOW!) and I'm sitting down. Of course now that I've sat down and opened my lap top to actually type something thought provoking, my little guys will probably wake up and be ready! You might say, ready for what? Well, in my house when the boys wake up, they're ready to eat, ready to play, ready to make lots of noise, ready to have their diaper changed, ready to be held, kissed, cuddled, and ready to be given full attention. But for now they are napping and I'm enjoying this small time to myself. Mikey always reminds me to breath every now and then during my days here at home with my boys. I am learning that children are emotional creatures and with every circumstance that could happen throughout their day, they cover it with emotion. It can be a happy emotion and then the next minute a sad or mad one. As an adult, especially women, we are very similar to that of a child. And sometimes we even act like them. :) I have to remind myself daily that I am the older one here at the house. We as humans are not in control of the everyday happenings throughout our day. (I'll come back to that thought) I find it sad that many people do not believe in God. It actually astonishes me that they believe in a bunch of dust particles that came together and just made these amazing bodies that we have. Not to get all theological on you or anything, but let me ask you a question: Do you plan your every breath you take? If you do, wow! Because, I don't. I feel so blessed that I don't have to think about the every breath I take. Just imagine it; I wake up in the morning and I tell myself, "Luana breath, ok brush your teeth, breath, spit, breath, rinse your mouth, wait breath!!" Crazy!! And too much work!!  But imagine we had to do that? I rest in knowing that we have a God that made me, loves me, knows me and seeks the best for me. Anyways... back to the statement We as humans are not in control of the everyday happenings throughout our day. Things just happen! I mean we can be walking to our kitchen to grab ourselves our first cup of coffee in the morning and then we step on a hot wheels car! OUCH! In my house that happens. I could wake up content, happy that I am awake first, happy that I have a new start to my day, happy that I get to see my loved ones first thing in the morning, and then BAM, I step on a hot wheels car and here comes the heat, and then Niko can start screaming for no reason and here comes more heat, and then Nathaniel can wake up because Niko screamed and.... I HAVEN"T EVEN HAD COFFEE YET! And now Luana is a monster, and she even looks like one because she just woke up! And I am only sharing this because its true and it has happened  :) I read this statement out of the book called

"UNGLUED" by Lisa Terkeurst it says, "I can't control the things that happen to me each day, but I can control how I think about them. I can say to myself, 'I have a choice to have destructive thoughts or a constructive thought right now.I can wallow in what's wrong and make things worse, or I can ask God for a better perspective to help me see good even when I don't feel good.' We can't always fix our circumstances, but we can fix our minds on God. We can do that." So going back to the beginning where Mikey reminds me  to take a breath every now then, it's true! When things happen that are out of my control, I need to take a breath, and ask God to help me view the situation with a new perspective. You are probably thinking, "that just seems easier said then done." Yes! You are right! It is easier said then done. This takes practice, this takes us initiating it. Will I mess up? Yes! Alot! But as the author calls it, " Imperfect Progress". She says, "Imperfect changes are slow steps of progress wrapped in grace... imperfect progress"! I love that! The word grace always gets me though... I can easily give grace to others when they make a small mistake, but when it comes to giving myself grace for making a small mistake I fail terribly and pretty much allow my negative thoughts to consume me. We are such prideful human beings that we expect the best of everything we do. Sometimes that thought process is good; like when you are about to take a test or score a touch down, but even then so, what if you failed? Are you going to beat yourself up? I mean, think about it, the punishment for you was failing the test or losing the football game. You are going to continue the torture of beating yourself up!! Yup, and we do. And then we start labeling ourselves. We'll start saying, " I am a loser, I am  a failure, I am an angry person, I am depressed, I am a good for nothing, I am a wreck" etc etc etc. The author goes on to say, " Labels are awful. They imprison us in categories that are hard to escape." She says, "Those labels start out as little threads of self-dissatisfaction but ultimately weave together into a straitjacket of self-condemnation." God has designed us so uniquely and beautifully! Instead of condemning or labeling ourselves, I think we need to take a breath and again ask God to work on those hard places in our life. Instead of saying, " I am a loser because I lost the football game", we can simply say, " I play football and today I lost the game". This is just a funny example! And the funny thing is most of you are not football players. Speaking of football players, my little guys just woke up! And......... I wasn't quite done blogging today, but... " take a breath Luana,

I am so thankful they got a nap today Lord, thank you for the rest that I was able to get also, Thank you that they woke up hungry and we have plenty of food. We are so blessed that YOU are with us during our every day doings. I love you so much! In Jesus Name, Amen.

Oh and Lord, Thank you that even though they can be a handful and get into little spats, thank you that they still choose everyday to love each other and give each other lots of hugs and kisses. Amen.