Monday’s Mantra

Thank you so much for stopping by for Monday’s Mantra and Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power and Trench Classes United. I’m excited to share today’s mantra with you and how I received it to give to you. Grab your coffee and your Strand of Faith and let’s go ties some knots in our faith so when challenges come at us from all angels, we won’t come unraveled.

It was my last full day in Texas visiting my son, daughter-in-love and our three grandchildren. In fact, I was just hours away from having to leave. Usually it’s hard to get up and out, because we are all kind of bummed that the time is coming to an end. But this visit was different. We decided to take a quick trip up to Bull Creek and do a little hiking and if the water was warm enough, the kids could go for a quick swim. It felt good to be squeezing every moment of the day as if a wet washrag and creating another memory before I had to leave for home. We hiked a bit upstream, and the kids kept asking, “Dad, can we please go down there?” There was a nature-made crevice of the creek that looked like a slide to go down which dumped them in a nice deep part of the creek. “I’ll take them,” I volunteered. So they took the baby upstream and I went down with the kids, out of the creek of course!

There’s such a joy that comes from watching children be children, laughing, splashing, sliding down the slide and plunging into the midst of the creek. As I watched them, I marveled over the differences between my oldest grandson and my grad daughter. She meets no strangers, and he doesn’t go out of his way to meet anyone. But in the water, all of that changes for him. He is as happy as a fish and inevitably winds up with a new friend or two.

I was so intently watching them that I was startled to see my son walking up right behind me. I think he was going to scare me! We both stood there, watching and talking and somehow our conversation veered over to the statistics of people repeating what they learn as children, including abuse in all forms, and when they become adults, if they’ve experienced a painful childhood, they often use it as a crutch, something to blame, to lean on, an excuse to not change, and what’s even more tragic is that is often unknowingly!

It was in the midst of this conversation with my son that this truth came to the surface of my heart and mind: To move on does not always mean you’re moving forward!

I haven’t just moved on; I’ve moved forward!

You may be asking, what’s the difference? When moving on is “just getting over it,” we aren’t really able to move forward with the intention He intended. See, just as I shared last week, sometimes the way we move on just may be with a mask on!

When we just move on, there are a whole host of effects that interfere with healthy relationships and healthily communication.

Have you just moved on…or do you feel like you’re moving forward, learning and unlearning? Would you like to learn how to move forward with those difficult or unlovable people in your life? Join me Thursday for Coffee Hour Live on Facebook! Just go to www.facebook.com/Evindalepins and let’s have coffee and let’s talk live about this.

Join me tomorrow for Tuesday’s Trench Truth and Wednesday for more of this conversation which led me to our Wednesday’s Word.

Moving Forward,

Evinda