"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference."
"One change a day." My Mantra. My motto. When I was little my family fell apart, but it is what God used to draw us to Him and eventually, it fell together. It took a couple years of counseling and a lot of work for each us. That shows how a mess we were, but it also shows how God can restore what is broken. There is beauty in that. This is one reason I am pro counseling. I believe everyone can benefit from it. There is no shame in it. I admire and applaud those who are brave enough to seek it and who do the nitty gritty work of moving forward. It's not easy, but it is worth it.
This prayer hung in my parent's office when I was growing up. I read it often and it has stuck with me throughout my life. There are things we can control in life and things we cannot. We need God's help in knowing the difference. Otherwise, we get stuck in unhealthy patterns and we fail to set boundaries so we can move on to health and we spend our time and energy trying to change the other person or blaming the other person. The only person I can change and work on is me. I can't change anyone else. I can focus on what I can do. There is so much freedom there. We can pray for, love, and forgive those in our circles, but we can't be their Holy Spirit.
One change a day. Sometimes our situations overwhelm us. Sometimes our goals overwhelm us, BUT if we break them down to asking ourselves, "What is one change today that I can make that will help this situation? What is one change that will move me toward this goal? What is one change I can make that help me be a better wife or mom?" Waking up each morning and focusing on being the best me I can be and giving myself grace along the way. Changing what I can change. Implementing what I can implement. It takes practice and it takes consistency for change to happen. If you do the same thing, the same way, you get the same results. You want to change your family, start with yourself. You want to change your marriage, start with yourself. You want to change your parenting habits, start with yourself. You want to change your health, start with yourself. You want to change your direction in your life, start with yourself. Focusing on what He has called you to be and to do and finding your significance in that alone. We can't do it on our own. That's the kicker. We need God's help. Ask him for it. When we start moving towards one change a day, little by little, it adds up to big changes. You look back and see all that God has done with one change, one decision, one step, one boundary at a time... it starts with one change a day...have the courage to start there...
"Ask yourself if what you are doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow..."
One Change A Day,
Aime Beth