When you feel like a struggle is overwhelming you, stop focusing on not doing the bad behavior but instead focus on what you should be doing!!
It works for pre-schoolers. My mom was a K-4 teacher for a number of years and she always told people to speak positively to kids. Instead of “don’t get on the table” say “please sit in your chair” instead of “don’t throw the ball” say “please roll the ball” and my favorite instead of “no hitting!” Use “hands are for helping, not hurting. How can you use your hands to help?” and what is best way to get those positive messages in kid’s heads? Song!
“Clean up, clean up everybody everywhere, clean up clean up, everybody do your share.” (Bet you sang that didn’t you?)
Music moves me. It can change my mood, amplify it, or encourage it. When I was young I wrote songs. I don’t play an instrument, but I wrote lyric after lyric. I wish my computer hadn’t crashed so I could look back on those songs.
I wrote songs about losing my great-grandfather (one of the strongest and positive male role-model of my life). I wrote songs about feeling like I was watching life from the outside. Everyone seemed to connect so much better with each other than they did with me. I wrote about discovering the “real me” because I had no clue who that was.
Because of a single comment that was never meant to harm, I stopped writing songs. Just as I was playing with expressing my voice, it was choked out. They say that where your highest calling is, is the area you will be most attacked in. For me it has been my voice.
I’m loud, but I learned to be silent. I’m a strong personality, but I learned to be a doormat. I’m loving, but I learned self-rejection.
Life is a balance. But I’m learning to live like ME again. I LOVE people, meeting people, learning their stories, their strengths, their hopes and dreams. My past has shattered me but Jesus has used the pieces for a mosaic I would never have become if I stayed the vessel.
I’m writing songs again, coming back to a heart of worship. Instead of listening to the voice that says “don’t mess up,” I’m going to listen to the one that says “follow Me”
“Coming back to You, I’m coming back to myself, running to find Your heart, I’m finding myself. I’m finding myself. Love me harder, love me stronger, love me sweeter than I can hide from. Oh Sweet Sweet Spirit, my Breath from heaven, let me not grieve You, deceive You, My Sweet Sweet Spirit, the One who comforts me, the One who lets me see.”
