Jett loves his little, blue blankie. If you’ve seen Jett, you’ve probably seen his blankie. We are working hard on getting Jett to leave his blankie on his bed every morning. And, by “WE” are working hard, I mean Kris. It makes mornings harder, because, blankie…..you know.
Last night as I was putting Jett to bed and praying over him, I added, “Thank You for a smooth morning. Thank You that Jett is patient and cooperative and full of understanding. Amen.”
This morning Jett woke up happy and cooperative and saying, “yes ma’am” to leaving blankie on his bed. Inside, I was thanking sweet Jesus for such a smooth morning and fist bumping Him in my heart. ‘Cause, we got this.
Then, my sweet, cooperative boy spilled my entire cup of coffee all over the coffee table. All over my phone, my iPad, my favorite books, his Legos, and whatever else was in that line of fire. Jett awaited for scary mom to come out. John Henry left the room to get paper towels and not hear scary mom.
And, I paused. I remembered my prayer of a smooth morning. And, I just said, “It’s okay, bud.”
While, we cannot control every part of our day and avoid trouble, we do get choose our response to the bumps and how they control us. And, instead of it ruining our morning, I was able to be a model of peace and self-control and forgiveness to my children. I do not tout this inner fortitude to do this all of the time. I have failed so many times and went scary mom on my children more times than I care to recall. And, self-appointed Holy Spirit in my life, Anna Takle, is always quick to remind me of how I should’ve responded. Bless her. But, today, I made a decision to create my calm. To CHOOSE a smooth morning.
We can pray for things, and that’s okay. We can thank God for things, and that is necessary. But, in as much as I thanked Him for a smooth morning, it was up to me to create it.
You create your calm. You create your peace. You create your smooth. It’s not the hard moments that wreck us or our day. It’s our response to them.
Instead of coming home from dropping the kids off stressed, I came home noticing a beautiful sunrise. I came home pouring out tears of gratitude for this beautiful day. Creating my calm made thanksgiving so easy.
Make the decision to choose your responses today. Create your calm, and let thanksgiving pour out.
DustyTakle.com 
This is beautiful! I actually love this, and the message you are sending.
My daughter has hit the tantrum toddler stage and I’m finding myself crying in the corner because at times I just want to scream at her because she has pushed me hard enough but reading this puts a different light on the matter. Thank you xx
http://www.realbabytalk.co.uk
Thank you! I often want to control the behaviors of my children. But they learn their own self-control when we model it and create our calm. It’s a hard discipline but not impossible!
Yes exactly, I am finding talking to her slowing and explaining why what she is doing is wrong helps more than when I loose my cool x
Great blog Dusty. Thank you for sharing!
I really loved this and applied it to my morning. Our reactions are so intentional. I don’t always see that I have a choice in that. Your words are so relevant to every day struggles. Thank you for being a light.
Thank you! I am learning that when I am intentional on focusing on something….like a smooth morning (or you fill in the blank), I am more conscientious about making good decisions in my responses. Whatever we focus on expands!
Pingback: Creating Calm | Leadership with Sass