Okay, now my real 1st post!

Wow......Never thought I'd be in the "world of blogging"..........But, I'm actually pretty excited about it! I've been thinking for awhile about the Jerry Maguire movie and how he comes out with his infamous "mission statement". I've decided that I need my own mission statement!

Matthew 5:16 says "Let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your God in Heaven." Wow. When you stop and think about that verse it is humbling to know that your actions, words, deeds, etc., might be what influences a person to accept Christ or not. I am working really hard on remembering that verse throughout my daily activities. The funny thing is, it is easier to "let my light shine" around everybody but my own family! And by "my family" I mean my four kiddos and my husband. Why is it so much easier to be kind, compassionate, loving, patient, etc., with everybody but those you are closest to? God has been kind of letting me know lately that they are exactly the ones I need to be showing God's love to!

So, I am working on that. However, I fail just about on a daily basis. For example, last week I got a call from the playground "duty monitor" at my 7-yr.-old's school. Luckily, she is a friend of mine, or this call would've been even more horrifying. Seems as if my 7-yr-old, Maddox, (he is the youngest of three brothers and also has a sister 19 mos. younger than him) has been involved in some "bullying" incidents. Now this is not the first time I have had to deal with him this year on this issue. Unfortunately he has been kind of "mean" to a really good friend of mine's son. I don't know if it is better or worse for it to be one of my FRIEND'S son. To make a long story short, I told my husband that he was going to have to deal with this because I was so angry and knew I wouldn't handle the situation appropriately. So my husband told me to put him in his room when he got home from school and he would deal with it. Sounds like a great idea, right? Well, I'm not really sure what happened to me. Apparently, the devil invaded my body, and the minute my son walked in the door all happy and smiley (with his front big tooth missing, no less), I lost it. He asked me if he could go play at his friend's house and I responded with "are you kidding me? Do you want to tell me what happened at school?" He really had no clue what I was talking about.......but about 20 minutes later, after hearing me RANT AND RAVE at him, he was in tears, and my 13 yr. old informed me I had probably scarred him for life. I won't go into all of the details, but why did I have to act like that? I knew that would happen and had even made precautions against it, but unfortunately there I was...screaming and acting like a mad woman......certainly not "letting my light shine" to my gap-toothed little 7-yr-old. My brother had told me recently that he thought his life verse was probably Rom. 7:15 "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." So, there you have it, I was doing exactly what I did not want to do.

And now I have Dr. Phil in my head saying "it will take a 1000 'atta-boys' to make up for that one screaming incident". So, anyways, I guess my point is that Matt. 5:16 is what I would like my mission statement to be, but I am just a sinful human and Rom. 7:15 is probably more like it!