Tales of a Thankful Mom

          As a mom of three children, I remind my children to try to reach a compromise concerning some form or fashion of disagreement with each other almost every day. I tell them, and try to remember myself that many things that seem important in the moment will not even be remembered days or weeks later. My Dad used to ask me as a teen, "Is this a hill you are willing to die on?" If it is not something critically important to me, than I need to be willing to compromise. I want to teach my children to be empathetic with others and to be willing to meet in the middle. I want to teach them to think of others and be mindful of perspectives that are different than their own. Choosing to work together to work out a compromise is an act of love. I know that if these are the values that I wish for my children to learn, than I need to model these values in my interactions with them and with other people. They need to see that I am willing to listen to the perspective of others. Ju

           I have been doing a lot of reading, listening, and praying in the last few days. I have always believed that every person on this earth is a unique masterpiece created by God. Recently my eyes have been open to systematic racism, and I want to keep my eyes and heart open to both the beauty and the pain in the world around me.. A few steps I am taking to do this is to make a conscious choice to read more books from authors who are of different races and backgrounds than me. I want my children also to be exposed to literature from a greater diversity of authors. I want to teach my children about  diversity. I don't want them to make assumptions about people who look, act or think differently than they do. I want them my children to understand that people of different cultures ate not always treated fairly. I want my children to take a stand against injustice. I am thankful for the gift of this change of perspective. I don't want to live in my own little world any longe