Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for people who have intentionally come into my life and inspired me.

Mrs. Pocock is a spitfire of a woman who has forever touch my life.  I remember her when I was young; my brother, sister and I would fight to sit beside her in church because she would always bring a second purse to church that was full of candy and things to do.  I remember my brother getting the prize spot most of the time.  Probably because he was the youngest.

In my early 20’s my grandmother passed away.  I sat beside her every Sunday in church, we shared a hymnal and I so enjoyed my Sunday mornings worshipping with her.  The Sunday after the funeral, Mrs. Pocock came and sat beside me and said she wanted to by my adopted Grandma and that I could share the hymnal with her each week.  She didn’t have the beautiful voice of my grandmother but I was grateful none-the-less.

She has always had a quick wit about her and she still makes me laugh till my sides hurt.  You never know what is going to come out of her mouth.  One line that I will always remember is when she was talking about someone she knew and as a side comment she said, “She has a face only a mother could love.”  It was one of those moments when you didn’t know whether to be shocked or roll across the floor laughing!

The girls and I were able to visit with her during our recent trip to Ontario.  Here she is 99 years young!  What a precious woman.  I am so thankful that the girls had the opportunity to meet her and catch a glimpse of this special woman that touch my life in such a unique way.

 

Think, think, think

While I have been sitting and crocheting it gives you a lot of time to think.  For me, that is good and bad.  It is good to sit in stillness and give your mind time to wonder and think about what is around you. 

What is bad, is what I have been doing.  I have been using this special time of stillness to think about negative things that are around me and then I dwell on them all day and they consume my thoughts.  I think about the choices that other people are making and I see how destructive it is and how negatively it is impacting others and I get so worked up about it.  Then I have to take a deep breath and remind myself that it is choices that someone else is making and I really have no control over the situation.  They are going to have to deal with the consequences of their own choices. 

Then I get so mad at myself for wasting so much time worry about other peoples choices. Does anyone else do this or is it just me?  Maybe I do it because I have had to walk the path of learning from poor choices that I have made in the past and I it is hard to watch others having to walk down that same path.  Or maybe I am just a control freak and I want to control their situations.

Whatever the reason, I am making a conscious effort to stop dwelling on the negative around me.  There are positive things happening around me that I am ignoring and that is going to change!  The positive is what I am going to focus on now.  We have been given the blessing/curse of free will.  Most often we choose which path we are going to walk down and if we want to stay on that path.  My path at the moment isn’t the best one to walk down, focusing on the negative is never a good place to be.  What example am I setting for my daughters?  Definitely not one that I would like to see them follow.  Today I choose to look for the positive around me and rejoice in what I see.  That is the legacy that I would like to leave and inspire in my daughters.

What's your legacy?

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the legacy that I am leaving behind. A wonderful gentleman at my home church passed away. I will always remember his wonderful smile and his gentle nature. Every Sunday morning he was there to open the door for you and welcome you to the service. He did this humble act of service for over 30 years. That is amazing to me. He saw many arrive as new born babies to having children of their own. I know that his funeral will be a packed house, full of friends there to celebrate his life. I can’t even begin to guess how many lives he has touched. He is leaving an amazing legacy; his family must be so proud and honoured to be able to carry on the family legacy.

So now I have been thinking about my legacy. What am I teaching my children? Am I inspiring them to leave a legacy of their own? Is getting my book published my legacy? I honestly hope not. I have done so much above and beyond my book; it is all a part of the puzzle that God is allowing me to be a part of.

All of us have the opportunity to leave an impactful legacy. All of us have gifts and talents that we can use to help others. It is a choice. What does your legacy look like? What would you like it to look like?