Happy Holidays to Everyone:

I hope this finds all of you healthy and happy!

I know these times have been crazy for us all! Unemployment is at an all time high, many single moms are becoming even more stressed than ever before. And now the Holidays are here. Kids beaming with joy while parents are STRESSED and concerned about how to afford it all.

Maybe you have lost your job and have become stressed, maybe your have lost your health care insurance and have mounting bills, or even worse, maybe you have lost your home. "Bah Humbug you say to all this Holiday stuff, I am just trying to stay alive!"

It is at these time that I seem to keep coming back to thoughts about what does all this holiday stuff mean anyhow? Besides the biblical significance that is holds for many, I think one of the most important meaning of the holidays has been severely lost upon us all, except IN THE HEARTS OF OUR CHILDREN! And what is that you may ask? It is the importance of feeling pure JOY AND WONDERMENT ABOUT LIFE!

Do you STILL FEEL IT? Do you STILL experience the excitement of it all? I know I have lost a lot of mine. BUT I KNOW I CAN RECLAIM IT ANYTIME I CHOOSE!

And when I need a little help in reclaiming it, I turn to the greatest little reminders, children; mine as well as others.

And I ask myself, do we teach our children or do they teach us? I believe, many of our children's beliefs and perceptions are LEARNED BY OUR ACTIONS WHICH ARE FORMED BY WHAT WE AS PARENTS, BELIEVE OURSELVES.

So what am I all saying here? I am saying, that I believe, that children are born happy (barring drugs in their system at birth, and/or some chemical or brain impairment). Even we parents, were born happy! Remember that? Can you remember the last time you were truly felt HAPPY just because,. What about feeling JOYFUL and simply EXCITED ABOUT ANYTHING?

Allow yourself to once again reclaim JOY back into your life! FOCUS on all that is beautiful around you; the sun, the sky, your health (no matter what it is), your children, the fact you are breathing and living.

There are SO MANY things to FEEL JOYFUL about. FOCUS on those things, and before you know it, the fact you can't pay all the bills on time, struggle to feed your family, will be less of a stressor to you , just merely a FACT that exists only right now (not necessarily forever).

THE MEANING OF THE IMPORTANCE OF ANYTHING IS TOTALLY WITHIN YOUR CONTROL.

AND IF YOU SIMPLY FEEL YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THAT, THEN LOOK TO YOUR CHILDREN, AND ALLOW THEM TO SHOW YOU! You may not recognize JOY at first, if you have denied yourself that feeling for so long. Before you know it, you will and it will feel so Gooooooooooooooooood!

Pray and hope your children NEVER LOSE THEIR ABILITY TO FEEL JOY, TO FEEL WONDERMENT AND TO BE HAPPY ABOUT LIFE.

And if you look at YOUR CHILDREN, and THEY HAVE ALREADY LOST THOSE FEELINGS REMEMBER……..ALL OF THOSE FEELINGS ARE STILL WITHIN THEM, AND YOU TOO.

DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE DAY WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE BILLS TO PAY, WHEN YOU FOUND A JOB, WHEN THERE IS ENOUGH FOOD TO EAT, OR SIMPLY WHEN YOUR CALENDAR IS CLEARED.

THAT DAY MAY NEVER COME.

DECIDE TODAY TO BE HAPPY AND JOYFUL!

I BELIEVE THERE IS NO GREATER GIFT YOU CAN GIVE TO YOURSELF, YOUR FAMILY, OR THE WORLD WE LIVE IN.

With Much Love,
Susan