Thankfully Hopeful

As we enter this month that traditionally signifies thankfulness, it seemed to call out perfect timing to start your 30-day blog commitment! Of course, this was made late night on a day that I was feeling like a daily commitment to creativity had to be simple. I mean, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a column 6 days a week for thirty years or something outrageous on top of all of her other responsibilities, so surely I could commit to 30 days of daily posts on an obscure, probably never-to-be read blog, right?

So, I am going to use the best tools available to me for topics and ideas and this being November 1, it the obvious topic would be thankfulness. Being thankful conjures different emotions, triggers different thoughts, and evokes a variety of answers to the question, "What am I thankful for TODAY?". In this moment in time, in this situation of my life, with my reflection of the world around me, what am I choosing to be thankful for?

It seems I should tout all the big idea things, my life, my health, my family, this great nation in which I live, etc. I don't take those things lightly but what if I tried to think outside the proverbial box for a moment and went with a childlike view. I want to talk about just this moment. Right now I am a homeschool mom and sitting in a coop waiting while my most precious gifts - my 2 daughters - are having their worldview influenced by a science teacher, an art teacher, 2 PE teachers, a spanish teacher, and many other homeschooled middle school kids who we never met until 9 weeks ago. I am thankful for the opportunity. I am thankful for the instructors' willingness to serve. I am thankful we have been afforded the opportunity to take charge of guiding our children and determining who will influence and be a role model for them.

As I am thankful, I realize more than being thankful, I am hopeful. I am hopeful in my daily decisions - hopeful that I make good choices and better decisions. Hopeful that making a promise to myself to write daily is the start of something not just good for me but inspiring for my children. I hope to know myself better and in doing so to know them better. I hope to reach a point that my thankfulness so abundantly overflows into my hopefulness and joy that it can impact others in a great way. Is that "thankful enough"? It is my definition for the moment, for today, and for my heart it is enough right now. Blessings to you.