Is there anyone out there who went to bed last night or got up this morning, thinking…"Ugh… I HATE Mondays?!  LOL… I always said that.  But, today will be DIFFERENT.  I will CHOOSE a different way to hear myself speak today.  WHY?  Because of my children.

Have you ever heard the saying, "Surround yourself with people you aspire to be like?!"  "Friends are like elevators, the either take you UP or they take you down."  Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent enough time in the dungeon…the "LOWER LEVELS" to last me a lifetime.  It’s time to go UP!!!  I say this not only because of how i feel, but because of what I hear from my children.  My ten year old, laughingly said last night, ‘I hate Mondays."  Like I said, I used to and sometimes still do- say that.  But it was out of frustration and anxiety about what was in front of me… what I had to face starting a new week.  Was it difficulty at work?  Was it having 26 nine-year old depending on me and not being mentally "ready" or planned in detail? Was it the endless thoughts of doom and death that would plague my mind as I worried that I had some disease that was going to take my life and leave my children motherless and my spouse grieving?  Or WOULD he grieve or be better off without me?

But when I heard that phrase out of my CHILD, though I know he was saying it in jest- it stuck with me, plaguing my mind in a different sort of way.  Oh, my gosh… HOW do I want my kids to see their lives?  Do I want them to anxiously look forward with dread and fear of what awaits them or do I want them to be excited and driven to live out a productive happy day?  

But do I FEEL like it’s a happy day when I look in front of me and see too much to do in a day? Endless amounts of cleaning? Children who are beginning to develop an attitude of dislike toward their mom?  A husband who doesn’t feel my support like he should or deserves to?  I’m a fixer.  I always have been.  Sometimes that is a bad thing, as I made TOO MANY things my responsibility… and to my own detriment and that of my family’s.  I need to find the happy medium, I guess.  

But TODAY, on this MAGNIFICENT Monday (YES- that IS my choice!) I will re-commit myself to serving my family and then my friends.  (And yes, Christians… this meaning God, as we serve Him by loving others!)  I will enable them in positive ways…by setting them up to feel positive, to look forward, and to be excited about the facets of life that we share.

Anybody on board with me??  DON’T FEEL like it??  Even more reason to commit to a MAGNIFICENT Monday.  If you want to but are not sure if you’ve got it in you, let me remind you.  NO matter how overwhelming it seems… 

YOU CAN DO IT.  Listen to your heart!!  (God knows our heads are full of corn-mush sometimes. )  And, if you need a little more inspiration- listen to the song called "The Voice of Truth"  by Casting Crowns.  It will tell you "… a different story!"  (You can create a free account for yourself at playlist.com and put that song on your playlist.  It is by the group CASTING CROWNS.)

And, if anyone wants to share their thoughts, I’m happy to hear them… positive or negative.  But, WARNING!  If they ARE negative, be prepared for an onslaught of opposition because that is what’s in me today!!

Hoping YOU choose to have a MAGNIFICENT Monday with me!(Hmm… "Tuesdays with Morie"… maybe this is "Mondays with Mama RQ!"

YOUR choice…    

RQ