Today, as has been the norm for the past three months, I woke up feeling so tired and in need of more sleep. As I stood in the bathroom just having taken off my glasses, I buried my head into my hands and cried. I cried because all I could feel in that moment was my exhaustion and the strong desire to want just one night of rest, of uninterrupted sleep. 

My husband suggested maybe I should miss MOPS today. Have I told you about MOPS? It stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. It’s a place for mom’s that are expecting or have young children up to age 5, to come together and hear the word of God, find strength and encouragement through other women, and to have a cup of coffee, a warm breakfast, and hear from different speakers. 

I’ve been going every Thursday morning since the week after Elysse was born and it has been such a time of love and healing and community for me. I love those two hours that we get and I always feel more positive and encouraged when I walk out of our weekly meetup. So the thought of not going this morning, even though I was exhausted, didn’t seem like a good option for me. And I’m so glad I didn’t miss it. 

The food was delicious as usual and I treated myself to a decaf cup of coffee with the most delicious flavored creamer. I’m not usually a coffee drinker but wow when I used that Caramel Macchiato flavored Coffee Mate I was in bliss. 

Then came our speaker, a young looking gal named Drexelle. Have you heard of her? Her website is http://www.drexelle.com. She had a lot of good points about letting go of the need to be super mom, facing your fears and connecting with God, people, and yourself. 

There was a lot I liked about her talk, but what I wanted to touch on here was when she said to focus on thankfulness. To switch the way we react to things by instead focusing on something you can be thankful for. And it reminded me of my moment of tears this morning. She almost gave an exact example of what I had experienced that morning, but the difference was, rather than dwell on the exhaustion she said, focus on being thankful. 

And the thing is when I allow myself to wallow in the hard part of motherhood I find it way more dificult to get through the day. I’ll be more easily irritated and my patience level is pretty non existent and then I’m filled with guilt for my lack of “having it together”. 

So I want to follow her advice and really work on practicing focusing on thankfulness and smile in those moments of adversity and being okay with my own messyness.  And giving thanks for what God has blessed me with. 

And so today I am thankful that I feel tired because it reminds me that I have two active and healthy young girls. 

What are you thankful for?