Being encouraging does not come naturally for me. I tend to have a "glass half empty" outlook, and have perfectionistic leanings that make me hard on myself. In the daily grind of home life, I have gotten into a rut, a habit, of focusing on the negative instead of looking for the positive.
My focus this week is going to be my children. It is so much easier for me to see and point out the what they've done wrong instead of what they did right. Perhaps he emptied the trash, but didn't put in a new trash bag; I see the chore as unfinished. Maybe she did a nice job making her bed, but there are dirty clothes all over the floor; while I might praise her bed-making, I'm sure to let her know I'm exasperated about the clothes.
This week I'm going to ask God to help me purposefully be on the lookout for reasons to praise and encourage my children. I need to be like those Tour de France fans, clapping and yelling on the sidelines, or even giving a push occasionally (Craig's been watching the Tour all month).
Won't you consider joining the challenge at least one of these weeks? Please visit Mary Joy. You will certainly come away encouraged yourself, and hopefully you'll want to pass it on.
4 comments:
Encouraging my children is certainly something I can work on as well! I seem to spend most of my day yelling at them to stop fighting over the doll house. :s
Holly!!! You have always been such a wonderful encourager to ME! You have encouraged me and inspired me to follow my dream and to be myself. I will always be grateful for your beautiful encouragement!!!
Just so you know you are not joining the challenge late at all...God calls us all at different times to work on things in our lives. So you are right on time for YOU! :-) And I am so glad to have a sister in Jesus like you to work through this challenge with!
As for the work you desire to do at home with your children. I can empathize with you completely. I struggle with this many days myself. That is part of the beauty of the "Intentional Encourager" Challenge Series...we don't have to work on it alone but with our sisters all working toward becoming the "Intentional Encouragers" God calls us to be. And God is there for you too...as you are spending time with Him asking Him for guidance, He is able to begin the transformation in you. I will be praying for you Holly and I hope you will pray for me and the other ladies too as we journey to become better "Intentional Encouragers" together. :-)
That is a wonderful post and I love the glass half full attitude too! I will go check out her site right now!
Have a pretty day!
Kristin
Thanks for letting me know about this. I know I need to improve in this area.
It is enlightening to me to see how happy my kids are when I remember to be positive.
Post a Comment