Celebrate the Small Successes

We are NOT perfect. Yes, I said it! Sometimes we beat ourselves up over it and sometimes we deny it. God has promised to fill in our gaps and to help us make it through. While on our journey to clean up our characters we need to celebrate each of the small successes.

Change is never easy. I am trying to make changes in my home, both within myself and within my children. I have a quick temper, but I am begging God to give me a quiet and peaceful spirit. When in the heat of a struggle with your child that isn't always easy to grasp and cling to. Your sinful self wants to rail at the child and cruelly scare them into submission, but that isn't real submission anyway. To reign yourself in, speak to the child in a calm voice while being firm (which will go a long way towards helping your child understand how to deal with confrontation healthfully) is one of those small successes that I was talking about celebrating.

Here's an example:
You receive a gift of a beautiful vase. It sits in a place of honor for all to see. You have two beautiful, exuberant children who have forgotten once again that you have asked them not to throw balls in the house. The inevitable is about to happen. Crash! Your prized vase hits the floor and smashes into a million little pieces. Your spirit begins to boil, inside you are seething. Your children look at you with terror on their little faces. You have a choice right now; will you A). reach up to that shelf for that familiar old way of yelling at them and making them feel worth less than the broken article on the ground? Or will you B). say a quick prayer asking God to calm your spirit and help you let your children know what they did is wrong while still making sure they know they are valuable to you. When you choose B that is a success to be celebrated! You may still choose A once in a while but each time you REACH out for B, you are making the old familiar ways less familiar. More success!

If we don't celebrate each success, each small victory, we will continue to dwell on the voice that whispers to our spirits daily "you aren't good enough...you can't do this." These are lies spewed out by the Father of Lies. He doesn't want you to succeed, but Romans 8:31 says "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" And Jesus said in Luke 18:27 "What is impossible with man is possible with God." When we awake to the start of a new day our first thoughts should be of God and asking Him to go with us through the day. Our next step is to celebrate each small success throughout the day.

Thank God today with each little victory.