"Foot Rubs & Inside Voices"

Thank you to Ruth Ayres for the opportunity to focus on celebrations every week! Please join us!

I celebrate perspective today. December can be a hard month. It's had a rocky start for me. People are stressed and pushed to their limits. As teachers, sometimes we are on the receiving end of this stress in our communications. In one day, I received two very different emails with two very different tones. One knocked me down and the other lifted me back up.

Everyone has a story and I remind myself of that daily. Sometimes I need to remind myself of that minute by minute. I believe we are all doing our best. Getting knocked down is hard. It stinks. It's no fun...but it makes the kindness so much sweeter.

I'm trying to model focusing on the good with my students. It's a practice I began in the beginning of November called The Best Part of My Day! I look for things to notice and then post about it after the students go home. No one has said anything, but that doesn't mean that they don't notice. Here are some of my favorites #TheBestPartofMyDay...

I've been thinking a lot about this...perspective and connecting and how to talk with people. One of my favorite writers, Glennon Doyle Melton, addressed much of this in a powerful blog post this week.

At the end of the post is a prayer and I cry every time I read it. I believe every single syllable of this prayer and I've printed it out and I'm looking for a special place for it. Here it is...

“OH, TEACHERS: Forgive us. We’re sorry that our fear for our kids gets in our own way. We’re sorry that our worry blinds us from seeing you and valuing you. We’re sorry for forgetting that we’re all on the same team. We’re sorry for having such a hard time trusting.

Teachers: Please know that we support you. You are doing the holiest, hardest work on earth. Nobody is more important than the ones who hold our babies in their hands and hearts all day.

WHEN WE ALL GET TO HEAVEN WE ARE GOING TO STEP ASIDE AND POINT TO THE TEACHERS AND SAY:  THEM FIRST! LET THE TEACHERS IN FIRST! SIT THEM DOWN ON PUFFY, COMFY CLOUDS AND GIVE THEM PEACE, COZY SLIPPERS, BREAD AND CHEESE — AND WE WILL GIVE THEM FOOT RUBS AND USE OUR INSIDE VOICES FOREVER! Amen." ~Momastery Wishing you a day filled with everything that brings you joy and peace today, my friends. I am spending today at a writing renewal retreat with some of my favorite people in the world, NVWP people. A day filled with friends and writing...sounds heavenly to me!