IT’S OKAY!

Say it out loud – “it’s okay”.   As a mom, I try to say these words a lot to my 5 year old and 3 year old.  Not that I am condoning behavior that I shouldn’t, but that I am giving them the grace that I so desperately need every day.   They need to hear these words.  They need to hear “it’s okay” when they mess up, when they are hurting, and just when they look sad.  They feel comforted, and loved when they hear these words. How about you?  One thing I know, when we are given grace through our mistakes, we are encouraged to do better next time.   I have learned this because I know for me, when I am NOT given grace – I do NOT want to try harder.  I only want to give up.   Did you hear that?  When I am given criticism, all I want to do is quit, run away, and hide.  That is not where we need to be in life.  We need to be living in our strengths. The other thing I know, is that you can’t control the way that others respond to you.  Ever.  This is a hard lesson to learn, because other people do not always treat us the way that we would like.  Life’s circumstances don’t always treat us as we would like.  The only person you can control is yourself.   You CAN control how you respond to and how you treat yourself.   Have you ever said the words, “it’s okay” to yourself?  Are you giving yourself the grace we all so desperately need each day?  If not, I hope you will start right now. As we grow in this wonderful spirit of freedom and grace, may we all start saying these words to OTHERS and to OURSELVES more than we criticize or judge.  I know that through these words, we will in fact find that it is okay, it will be okay, and we can rest in those words. “When you give yourself grace, you find the freedom to be yourself, and YOU are always enough.”   —Rachel Curtis P31 Fitness Founder]]>