Joy of Thankfulness

Honest truth, I was not feeling thankful after this morning.  

Two boys struggled to pay attention to their lessons. 

I've thought too much about how difficult it is to find time to create. 

After a quick look at my daily schedule, wondering what we were eating for tea tonight, I realised that I've forgotten to plan our menu for the week.  

I have not consumed nearly enough chocolate or drunk enough coffee in my lifetime.  

Well, the first three at least are true. 

So two boys have struggled to pay attention to their lessons? However... this mama needs to learn to be grateful for what I have!

One of these boys is incredibly creative with his hands.  He may have not done a great job of listening while I read from our history book, but he did make cardboard wings for his tiny Buzz Lightyear figure. He also drew some realistic-looking Larry Boy characters, and built a ship out of pillows.

The other boy has a mind that is full of constant possibilities.  He might have interrupted five or six times while I read aloud, but that was only because he was thinking of connections between what we were reading and something he read months ago, and wanted to let the rest of us know too.  He might have disappeared while we were in the middle of working on maps, but that was only because he went to sit down at the drums to play an amazingly complicated beat that he remembers from a song he heard once. He might have been unable to complete his history narration, but that was just because instead of recalling the facts of what we'd read, he was wondering why.  

Now, in the slowness of our usually chilled Monday afternoons, there are cloaked and masked and be-weaponed characters from Eragon stalking around our house.  

I have slowed down.  Lowered the expectations, quieted the frustrated mother voice, and listened as they narrated their book reports for World Book Day on Thursday.  I have spent quiet time with a daughter who wants to hear books read to her, dance, and be allowed to draw with pens while sitting beside me on the bed. 

In a slower mood, the menu is not a problem. After a quick glance in the fridge, I know which vegetables need to be used up before new ones arrive on Wednesday in our veg box.  

In a slower mood, the desire to have quality time to create is not a problem. I know that each project will be finished eventually. There will always be new ideas.  Just because I can't jump into them right away doesn't mean they will never happen.

Today, I'm thankful that I'm learning patience.

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought,

and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."

-G K Chesterton