If I'm not off hiding somewhere with a good book, chances are I'm chasing a kid or a dog or sleeping, because every mom can use a nap! I found Prince Charming and married him, and now we enjoy the idiosyncrasies of life in an old farmhouse. Oh yeah, and we root for the Buckeyes. Every time.Whether it’s hard or not, I find this exercise, hosted weekly at Faith & Family Live, to be one of the best spiritual practices I’ve found.
Yes, I said spiritual.
Because, when it comes down to it, recognizing my “worth” has an effect on all the areas of my life. For one thing, it makes me smile (sometimes at how small I’ll go to be able to list three things). For another, it’s started to infiltrate my conversations.
“Ah-ha!” I’ll yell. “THAT is a small success for this week!”
I might be the only one who knows what that means, but it never fails to make people (who often have no idea that I have a blog) smile along with me.
I’ll spare you the yelling (for now) as I present this week’s line-up of small successes:
1. Last week, I asked a friend to watch my kids and I went to get my hair cut. It’s nothing fancy and, actually, I forgot to mention to the stylist that I needed “angling” in the front. Nevertheless, after months of putting it off, I went.
2. On Friday last week, when I was on the brink of moping, I felt a strange pang and realized that I almost sort of wanted to clean my bathrooms during my little one’s nap. The four-year-old caught wind of it and helped. And I let her. (This is actually two successes, isn’t it?) You can’t exactly eat off of my bathroom floor, but there’s less grime and gross stuff in there than there was. :)
3. Yesterday morning, I turned off my computer before I had to and went into the living room and just read with my four-year-old. We cuddled and I realized how much better her conversation is than the work I have to do on my computer.
Go on over to Faith & Family and share your small successes. Or, if you’re shy, why not consider just adopting this practice for yourself?
Three Cheers!
Lynn // Oct 15, 2009 at 10:18 am
I have to remember to do #2 and #3 more often
Kelly @ Gratiae ut Deus // Oct 15, 2009 at 11:03 am
How fantastic that you let your little one clean with you. I have a really hard time with this. In my large family I have so little time to get things done that I tend to say “no” more then “yes”. But when I do let the littles help they beam from ear to ear. Thank you for inspiring me. I need to let them help more often.
God bless!
Kimberly // Oct 15, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Very nice, Sarah! It’s such a challenge letting the little ones help, at times…and Kelly is right…nothing beats the smile of a little one who has been allowed to pitch in!
Karen // Oct 15, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Cleaning a bathroom or a bathroom floor is never a small success. That’s the kind of cleaning that deserves recognition. Can you tell I loathe cleaning bathrooms?