soaking up these cuddles with my “baby”
If you’ve been reading my posts this week, you know this week has been a little harder for us. No reason in particular (other than…oh…the pandemic). I took a little time this morning to get away from the house and I read in my car overlooking one of my favorite lakes. Sidenote: my husband is so helpful and gets me a couple tiny breaks like this during the week – my sanity is somewhat in tact thanks to these breaks.
I am leading a book study so I read the assigned chapter for our discussion next week. The topic was victimhood mentality…which I know I struggle with…often…especially now. There is SO MUCH talk about gratitude in our culture and especially now, in the midst of chaos, there is still so much focus on gratitude. But me? I’ve never been amazing at it. It’s easier to complain. Focus on why my life is hard. Focus on what is NOT working right now. Focus on all of the unknowns. Focus on…the list goes on. It’s so much easier to complain. But where does that leave me? Well…complaining and feeling just as miserable as when I started…or worse. Also, while there are definitely necessary moments to complain to a trusted friend (aka vent!), no one loves listening to a complainer all the time. I’ve even recognized some of those types of people in my life and needed to create space to avoid the negativity. But I realize I am also doing this…
So today’s reading talked a lot about the victimhood mentality and how, instead, we can choose gratitude. Now I know not everyone reading this is in line with my same beliefs – and that’s fine. You can still benefit from this! But to directly quote the book, she writes, “But to see God’s good purposes, we have to focus our gaze beyond our immediate situations. We have to remember that, even now, we have a choice: we can choose to praise and honor God right where we are, trusting that we serve a God who is both transcendent and immanent…yet He chooses to be near us, to be with us, even in the hardest times when we cannot yet see how He could possibly bring anything good from our circumstances.” I’m not sure that quote fully captures all of my “aha!” from this morning – but I know I’ll be attempting to put this into practice. To choose to still acknowledge the hard going on, but also to trust God beyond this moment in time…even when it may not make sense.
By the way, this is Jennie Allen’s book, “Get Out of Your Head” and I’m enjoying it very much.
So…how about a recap!
never ever ever a dull moment
How am I feeling today: I am feeling more positive today – it’s likely due to the fact that it’s Thursday (almost the weekend), I had a Zoom call with friends this morning, I got a mini break this morning, and I didn’t have to wear my warmest coat outside because temps are rising. Many things to be thankful for today!
Today’s Win: Soren and I played soccer in the driveway this afternoon and we had so much fun…and it’s especially fun to score a goal when he’s the goalie (keep them humble) but I will also note he scores on me just as often! I am also flinching trying to protect baby brother in my belly from the ball…which don’t worry, it’s a very soft ball and he can’t kick that hard…yet. I love playing soccer with him – I can’t wait til I can actually run again and play with him.
Funny Kid Moment: This morning, I was about to make breakfast (I eat 2 hardboiled eggs and toast almost every single day) and Espen asked me if we could play some music. Sure! Let’s have a dance party at 7AM! Naturally he chose a Christmas song – Joy to The World. I immediately was hit with the lyrics of “Joy to The World” by Three Dog Night – and I felt much more open to blasting that at 7AM vs. Christmas music. So I introduced my son to a new song and even Soren ran into the kitchen to join the dance party. It was SO FUN!
Today’s Hero: Josiah has an aunt – Auntie Kath – that is amazing and sent us a letter full of colorful paper this week. She traced hearts on each of the pages and instructed us to cut them out and tape them on our window/door. Soren and I tackled the project today and now we have a very cheery front door! And we are so thankful for a loving Auntie that thinks of ways to help us stay entertained during this quarantine. Auntie Kath is our hero!
hearts to decorate our door!
Til tomorrow…Friday! Yay!
the middle girl blog 