3 Steps to Making Each Day Beautiful

Beautiful Dawn. Beautiful Day. Beautiful Mama. Those are the three things I remind myself of each morning as I commit myself to loving whatever comes at me.  

It is tough, really tough, sometimes. There are days where I would either like to start over or simply be done with it all. But I can tell you that the days that I follow through with my three steps to a beautiful day I do feel amazingly satisfied by the end of it. 

So, here they are. 

Step 1: Beautiful Dawn. How do you begin your day? Setting a tone begins the moment you open your eyes. I encourage myself to think good things from the moment I wake. I remind myself to have positive expectations. I crawl out of the warm cocoon of blankets, grab a cup of coffee, open my Bible study, and spend calm & peaceful one-on-one time with my Heavenly Father. In fifteen to thirty minutes I feel strengthened and full of joy. I am anxious to begin the day and see what adventures await.

Step 2: Beautiful Day. Life isn't perfect. In a heartbeat we can feel beaten by the most simple events. Someone gives the girls a xylophone capable of breaking glass with its ear splitting tones and you start counting down until naptime. Your daughter is going through the whiny phase and it seems she has an impossibly large quota of "Mama, mama, mama..."'s to be said by noon. A neighbor shows up and your dishes are still piled in the sink. Breathe. This happens. Accept that God allowed it because He loves you. Carefully He shapes and crafts you as you navigate your way through this day's events.

Step 3: Beautiful Mama. You need to take care of yourself. Keeping your mind, heart, body, and soul up to the task of caring for your family is an important investment of your time. Give yourself things to look forward to. Take breaks during the day to enjoy a coloring book, a novel, some music--whatever restores your peace and makes you feel like more than the house cook and cleaner. And, at the end of the day don't try to cram in more work because the kids are in bed. Relax. Snuggle up to your amazing hubby and watch TV. Don't ever tell yourself that you shouldn't do these things. They are important because you are important.

​I'll be writing more about each step as we go throughout the first year of my Beautiful Day Project. And please, if you have advice on how you succeed in making your own day beautiful  please share. We are all on this journey together.

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God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. "Selah"
Psalm 46:1-3