CHILDREN...A BEAUTIFUL REFLECTION OF YOU

CHILDREN..A Beautiful Reflection of You...Be Mindful of what you are reflecting.

I always find it awkward when people meet me or my hubby for the first time and show a bit of surprise to find how cool and down to earth we truly are. I guess in my head, I think, 'what else would we be'...but then I begin to understand why that is. In today's technology society, especially with the boom of social media sites, people may portray someone totally opposite of who they are. There are even some who use other people's pics and images and create a faux life not their own. Why I remember being alerted that someone on FB used my photos posing as me..I mean, it was quite disturbing. Any who, one of the best compliments that we received from someone was the mention of how manner able and responsible our children were. That's HUGE to me because we strive hard to balance freedom and discipline. While we do allow our children to express themselves, we ALWAYS require it to be done in a respectable manner. Manners are a Huge Huge pet peeve of mine and I am a firm believer that manners begin at home. Our children are expected to greet and exude good manners. We do not believe in enabling our children, as I've seen the results of enabled children who become enabled adults. So, when we do receive the question, 'how do you get your children to be so manner able and responsible', we answer, 'it's about first exuding those characters within ourselves then presenting the expectations to our children once they reach the age of awareness'. We encourage conflict resolution amongst each other and encourage uplifting, not competing with each other. Basically, we strive to do much of the opposite of what we saw and/or experienced growing up. We teach our children that there are Always consequences for every action. My mother in law, during her last visit, said to us, 'I wish I had you guys as parents growing up. You guys are amazing! That... Truly made my day!! I know everyone has their own method of raising their little ones, this is the beauty of how we raise ours. Of course, we make mistakes, but each day we wake we get a chance to get it right, and that begins with US as parents setting the examples. We expect respect, and we strive to exude respect. We expect great manners, and we strive to express great manners. We are a simple cool bunch striving to do this thing called 'spiritual living' right!! It takes too much energy to put into being someone we are not and there's always a recompense for doing that. All darkness is eventually exposed in the light...
As always, we encourage, Be The Light!!

JUDGEMENT..BROKENNESS..FREEDOM..HOW DO WE BEGIN TO GET THERE

DON'T ALWAYS VIEW PEOPLE'S FLAWS THROUGH THE EYE OF A CAMERA..RECORDING THEIR EVERY MISTAKE SO THAT YOU MAY CONSTANTLY REMIND THEM, CRITICIZE THEM AND ISSUE OUT JUDGEMENT... FOCUS NOT SO INTENTLY ON HOW A PERSON FALLS SHORT, BUT INSTEAD REFLECT ON HOW THEY RECOVER FROM THEIR VICES. 

If you guys have been a supporter of our page  for awhile, you know that when I have a thought, I love to share, in hopes that even one person somewhere will be inspired by what I've shared. These are always personal thoughts of growth, never directed towards anyone, but instead a self reflection on how I can constantly grow and mature in wisdom.

MY THOUGHTS..JUDGEMENT 

We live in a world where there is constant judgement, constant criticism, constant fault finding. What the world does not focus on is how people recover from their flaws, from their vices, from their brokenness. I've learned and am learning that those who judge the harshest are usually the easiest offended when they in turn feel judgement, remember, we attract the energy we put out. Now, when I speak about judgement, I do not mean holding a friend or loved one accountable out of love. Accountability is when you help the one you love recognize their vices, help them up, dust them off, when they fall in hopes that they grow into a higher person..and this act is always done out of a loving spirit and not just for the act of self satisfying ego. 

MY THOUGHTS..BROKENNESS

What I'm finding is that brokenness does not discriminate. It does not care what you look like, act like, how much worldly wealth you have obtained, how many material possessions you possess..it is an equal opportunist that visits the heart and spirits of anyone, anywhere and at anytime. It is the enemy of faith, love, healing, forgiveness, gratitude. It is the energy that seduces us into feeling justified with how we judge others, justify how egotistical we can be, justify how rudely we talk, how un-integral we may act...It clouds our vision of positivity and creates the illusion of negative thinking. Brokenness visits us at the age of innocence, whether through hurts as a child during upbringing, hurts from those we have trusted and loved, those who we have allowed into our personal energy. Brokenness is the energy that teaches us how to distrust, how to lack forgiveness, how to re-act instead of graciously thinking before we respond. Brokenness whispers negative thoughts into our heads making us feel RIGHT in the wrongs that we do..

MY THOUGHTS..FREEDOM

There is a sickness of brokenness that's so prevalent in the world, and many times, many don't even know it..or better yet, even know what it is. Here's some things that have and are working for me as well as my husband in terms of healing brokenness and truly being set free..Freedom ain't what you say, how many verses you can recite, how often you visit a place of worship, how self righteous we think we may be, 'in our head' or how we portray ourselves to others..freedom is truly praying to recognizing that there is an issue that we struggle with, praying to be set free from that issue and then beginning the process of healing from that issue. I'm learning what freedom is. In our own families that we were raised in, we may have experienced, seen or been victim to dysfunction. In hopes of trying to heal from that, we may have tried talking it out, writing letters or simply pretending that it doesn't matter. What I've found and am finding is that, if a situation in a family cannot be discussed, I pray for my own peace of mind, I pray for the wisdom of how I can break the cycle of dysfunction, how I can teach my children a different way to think, feel or act, by, first, being the example and change I wish to see. Listen, I fall short each day..that doesn't mean that each day I'm allowed to wake, I can't strive to get it right, do it better than the day before..actually instead of judging all the change I wish to see in others, I'm striving to BE the change I wish to see. I don't care for profanity, but instead of judging those who do use it, I focus on keeping my words as positive as possible and working on how I use my words. We all grow at our own rate and as a beauty, I'm blessed to have someone who loves me to hold me accountable out of love to help me grow into the best person I can be while my physical body is here on this earth. I'm not a religious person and I respect people and their beliefs, whether I agree or not, they have a right to believe how they choose.. I do find that a spiritual closeness to our CREATOR and the messages HE sent through HIS word and HIS people are excellent guidelines of how we can heal this thing called brokenness. The more HE allows me to heal, the more I see how much I had placed HIM and my potential in a box. I recognize HE is and I am greater than that. The person we may judge the most may be used by HIM to send us a message that we may miss because we are so focused on how bad they fall short. Just because a person struggles with a different vice than you, doesn't make them any less forgivable. So, I'm learning to focus, not on how bad a person may fall short, but instead reflecting on how well they strive to recover. Any vice we may struggle in, we can find hope in truly understanding that HE is the I AM of all things possible for healing. The more I go, I grow..Let's grow together....Good morning, MIP MEMBERS!!!