Be an ENCOURAGER!

I had an experience yesterday that I want to share.

As I walked thru the grocery store late yesterday I saw this couple (of about my age, so not young but defiantly not old!) and I noticed the wife right away because she was wearing this knee length dress in a fun, modern print with a really long sheer vest. She was dressed like I would expect my daughters (aka youngsters) to be dressed. I thought she looked really cute.

So, later, as I was leaving the store she was walking out as well.

I said “Can I just say you look adorable?”

She put her arm around me and said “Can you be my new best-friend? At our age we need to hear this, right?”

I replied, “Yes, ma’am, and we need to support each other.”

She said, “Thank you, that made my day.”

My question to you is this: do you give compliments freely? We “girls” need to support each other. When you know (or see) a friend has lost weight TELL her! Tell her how fantastic she looks. Support her.

ENCOURAGE HER!

After all we not only do these things for ourselves but those around us. We want to be noticed for our efforts. It is so hard to eat right and be healthy and lose that weight. We need patted on the back! Especially by those we love and respect the most.

I am afraid we see HER accomplishment as a failure for ourselves. We didn’t lose weight. We don’t work-out. We don’t eat right. Why should I tell her she looks good when I feel so bad about myself? We all are competitive by nature. Maybe just a little bit but some all the same. We get defensive when we see someone succeeding when we have failed. Sadly, it is human nature.

Let’s fix that nature!

Get over it! News Flash….it’s not all about YOU!! We are here to support each other (male and female alike)! God needs us to be in tune with each other to further His Kingdom. We can’t do that when we are at odds with each other. You say, “I’m not at odds with anyone, just because she lost more weight than me, dresses better than me, eats healthier than me, exercises more than me (or whatever your situation is).”

Really? You may not know you are at odds with her but she does. She is making great effort to better herself and if her “besties” don’t compliment her then who? Some stranger at the grocery store? Well, yes, and sadly it makes her day because she doesn’t get it from her friends.

I have a friend that always encourages me. She tells me I look cute every time see shes me. I won’t lie, it makes me feel good…especially on a day I don’t feel so cute. I have made an effort to do this with my friends. It makes me feel good to hear it so I figure it has to make them feel good as well.

BE AN ENCOURAGER!

It seems depression is having a heyday in our society. Just look at Robin Williams. He was one of the funniest men around! He took his own life because he was depressed. The funniest man alive was DEPRESSED?!?! If that doesn’t open our eyes to our hurting world then I don’t know what will. I am not saying your friend will commit suicide because you didn’t compliment her new outfit or her weight loss. What I am saying is a compliment can go a long way in making someone feel good about things. And you don’t really know how she is feeling deep down inside. She needs that compliment! Trust me on this!

SO BE AN ENCOURAGER!!

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.                                                                                                       2 Corinthians 13:11

We all need Jesus! Man, woman, child! Compliments are not limited to the sisters in your life. We ALL need to hear encouraging words! It’s just we sisters are hardest on each other. Lets start encouraging not discouraging!

 

Be encouraged,

Sabrina

 

I cry because its Thanksgiving

As I sit here this morning pondering life……….I wonder where did the time go?

Where are the young children I raised?

Why are they gone from my home?

Why can’t I get them all in one place together more then once a year?

Why? Why? Why?

Why do they grow up and leave home to make their own lives?

Oh, yeah, that is what we raised them to do. Doesn’t mean I have to like it one little bit! Because I DON’T! Okay, okay, I ❤ my grandsons and my kids had to grow up and lead their own lives for me to have them! So, I am okay with them doing what we raised them to do.

I ❤ the Holidays! Its my favorite time of year. Especially now with 5 amazing grandsons to spoil. But I miss my babies being, well babies! I was thinking about Thanksgiving dinners at my mom’s house. It was so much fun! She always made more food then we could ever eat in day. So, we showed up for days and ate and ate and ate…..until we couldn’t walk! The ‘good ole days’!

That is what I am missing this Eve of Thanksgiving. The times when we loaded up and made the 5 mile drive to see my parents and siblings! Yeah, we lived close so we could go over for days and keep eating. But more importantly we hung out with family. We played games. We ate, too much. We laughed. Did I mention we ate……a lot?!?! We watched football. We made memories.

I miss those days when my kids were younger. When we had complete control….or so we thought, right?! They didn’t have a choice but to go with us. They didn’t have a car or money!

Most of all I miss spending time with my mom and step-father. We laid him to rest 2 and a half years ago. I know my sweet momma misses him every day. I think of him more often during the holidays when we would have been together more. But he was an amazing man and is missed daily.

Life goes on and we make new memories with new family members and our circle starts over with us as the new center. But it is hard to let go of the past and move into the future. I miss many things about the past but I look forward to so many more great things in the future.

I pray this Thanksgiving Holiday you find great happiness and make grand memories that you will look back on fondly. May peace rule your days and hope find you often and all your dreams come true and love never find you wanting!

Happy Thanksgiving,

Sabrina

Childhood memories

My potato plant

I had some potatoes that were “growing” in the pantry. You know when they get those eyes coming out all over because they are old and you should have thrown them out a few weeks ago or cooked them? I put a few in water, just like when we were kids, in a cup with three toothpicks stuck in them at an angle so they would be down in the water and put them in the window. Two rotted and stunk up the place! And when they sprouted (I did a happy dance!), I put them in dirt. I have three potato plants growing in my flower garden. I have seen potato plants they grow and sell in stores and I figured I could give it a try. I like the ones in the stores because of their light green coloring but mine are a different variety. Not sure what they grow theirs from. Mine are organic russets, of course.

But that is really not what this post is about…okay a little bit it is. Look at that plant! I grew a potato plant from ………well a potato!

It’s fun to be reminded of childhood.

What do you remember from your childhood that you would like to relive?

Swinging so high you thought you might flip over the bar of the swing set?

Or swinging high enough to jump out and actually feel like you are flying? I was always afraid of breaking my arm!

Riding your bike at top speed and letting go of the handle bars?

Riding the merry-go-round at the park? I had motion sickness issues…..still do….no go-rounds for me!

Staying out until the street lights came on? And still playing until your parents called you home?

Catching fireflies? I have never seen one but others say they exist, so I will go with that. I would like to see one some day.

Catching tadpoles? Watching those tadpoles turn into tiny frogs? They are so dang cute!

Climbing the cherry tree and eating until you are stuffed? Or peach tree? Or plum tree? Or apple tree?

Fishing without a care in the world?

Climbing into a tree house?

Having a game of baseball with the other kids on your block?

Hearing the ice cream truck a few blocks away and running into the house for money?

Jumping out of bed on Saturday morning to watch “Saturday Morning Cartoons”? When cartoons were still funny!

What are some of the things you remember? Did you have a special place in your neighborhood that you hung out with your friends? Who’s house was the house on the block where all the kids hung out? Did you have a curfew?

The old sitcoms remind me of what life used to be like. Times were lean but we didn’t know it. We had food on the table, clothes on our backs and we were loved. We didn’t need anything else.

Go out there and try your hand at something from your past. But if you break your arm “flying” out of a swing, don’t come blaming me. You know you are too old for that kind of behavior! You might want to stick with the ice cream truck!

What are you waiting for?

Live lively,
~ Sabrina