Grateful Monday

Hi friends! I've decided to start a Grateful Monday theme here on my blog. It's the start of the week and tends to be a bummer after the weekend...so I thought Monday is a good day to celebrate and think about the wonderful things in life. Just to try and start things off positively.
I'm overwhelmed by all the things I could write about, so I thought I would start off with this prayer a good friend sent me in the mail. I'm not trying to come off as a religious zealot here, so please know I just wanted to share some comforting words. It has universal appeal if you aren't religious or of the same beliefs as me. Most of us have heard the serenity prayer...but usually just the beginning of it. It's especially studied in 12 step programs. My dear friend trimmed this out of her church bulletin and mailed this over to me and, well, it's provided me with peace and the reminder to enjoy each moment. This will likely be the most religious post this blog will ever see; thanks for bearing with me...I just had to share in case these words help anyone else too.
God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And Wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; So that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.

Today I will start exploring my watercolors again. I will have fun dabbling the paint into the water and watching it spread across the paper in swirls. I will allow myself to get lost in the colors and go to that place in my mind I went to as a child...where my own world is safe, perfect, and free of judgement. Where time stands still yet moves by so fast. Where wild, bucking, knotted thoughts are still and let me alone. I encourage you, today, to do one thing...even if just for a few minutes that you used to LOVE to do as a child or even just a few years ago...but just haven't allowed yourself the time for. It's time to reconnect with that joy and that PLACE again. Just for the sake of doing it. For the sake of enjoying a moment in time. I've written myself a permission slip; may you do the same!