HDG: It’s All In The Tone

Before we get started on the giveaway, you blog peeps should know that two of my siblings read the blog every single day. And they both happen to be celebrating their birthdays TODAY! My sister Laura and my brother Steve [aka Hoody] were born four years apart [how Mom managed that is beyond me], and they have both been great cheerleaders for me in my life. 
   

I love you both beyond measure and hope you have an abundantly blessed day!!!!
   

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“The greater part of our happiness depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.”                       
                                                              ~Martha Washington

I find as my friends’ kids get older, their moms all start to lament about the same thing… the tone. It’s such a challenge to teach a child that, while it’s important to say you’re sorry, it’s even more important to sound like you mean it.

A curt and begrudging “I’m sorry” while stomping up the stairs and huffing dramatically just doesn’t have the same effect as sitting across from someone, looking them in the eye, and sincerely speaking from your heart. The same is true when faced with an undesirable situation… we can either handle what’s in front of us by huffing and puffing while we go through the motions, or we can take a deep breath and move forward in faith. Move forward with a grateful heart, because we move forward with trust.

When I realized that outside was no longer an easily accessible place for me, as you all know, I felt like huffing and puffing. I fought the urge and, rather than throw a tantrum, I just kept moving forward. But for the first week or so, I really didn’t have the right tone. I don’t feel bad about that… we all need to take our moments in order to adjust to new realities.

But at some point the thought occurred to me that to God, in the role as Father, I must have looked like a spoiled brat. You know, the kind that does what they’re told but only begrudgingly… making sure He realized that, while I was fulfilling my role, I really wasn’t happy about it. The sun was shining outside, people were walking around in short sleeves and sandals, and I couldn’t bring myself to open up the curtains. I could accept never going outside or opening windows if I just didn’t have it shoved in my face everyday that it was out there. That it existed. That it was all still going on without me.

And that’s not who I want to be.

I want to accept His gifts with a grateful spirit. And while being homebound doesn’t appear to be a gift, I know I will receive gifts and blessings in my situation. I always do. So when this weird weather decides to be spring-like again [I know what April showers bring, but I don’t know what comes after April snows…] my patio will be decorated. My chairs will stay empty but they will be sitting there representing the inviting home beyond the patio door. My hasta will bloom and the wrens will still take up residence, and I’ll enjoy them from my perch inside my walls.

And I will enjoy it… just because I can’t feel the sunshine doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate it’s warmth.

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