Happy Monday, friends! If you follow me on Instagram, you know I try to post a quote/verse every Monday to try start the week off with some motivation for both you and myself, and I thought why not start a weekly blog post with the same idea! I truly want my little site to be place of inspiration and encouragement. I feel like it’s a way where I can attempt to put some positivity out in to our world… and with it being MLK Day, what better quote to start with than this:

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”

We all have those times in our life where we just feel like we’re not doing anything “great”. I’ve been feeling like that lately…. It’s like “Ok, I’ve made it this far… now what?” and I think there are just times when we find ourselves in one of life’s transitional periods. It’s like we’re in a rut and are struggling to get through the simplest things, and it’s hard to keep believing that all of this amazing-ness is ahead of us, but you know what? Even when we feel at our lowest, we have so much power that we don’t realize we have. The smallest acts of kindness can have a lasting impact that we may never know about… whether it’s holding the door for someone, or giving a small word of encouragement, or even just a smile. It can make all the difference for someone who may be struggling. You can make all the difference in the world.

Now, don’t think that I’m Mr. Sunshine 24-7 because I’m talking to myself here even more so than I’m talking to you (and the good Lord knows that I have my “rough” moments) but lately I’m noticing more and more how insignificant the things that upset us can be.

In our sermon at church yesterday, our pastor told us that there was a new little girl that had recently started coming to our AWANA program. He told us that a few weeks ago when we had Santa come to visit the kids, they were all excited to line up and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. I’m sure most of them were asking for new toys or video games, but he said when this little girl got up there to Santa and he asked her what she wanted, all she said was “I want to be happy.”

When he told us that, it just broke my heart. Here I am worrying about this, that and the other and getting upset because of the stupidest little things, and there are people out there, children out there, that just want to feel happy. And it makes me realize that we are so beyond blessed everyday. I have a good family. I have a good home. I have money to pay my bills. I have a job. I have a job that I don’t hate. I have good friends… The list goes on. And I’m sure that many of you have a long list, too!

Is my life perfect? No. Is your life perfect? No. And in a world that preaches perfectionism and is so quick to judge, that’s hard to deal with some days. Theodore Roosevelt once said that “Comparison is the thief of joy”, and that is probably more true today than it was when he originally said it because wherever we look, there is something we compare ourselves to! So, what can we do about this? I say we make it our mission in 2018 to lift others up so that we can restore that joy and begin building hope!

Oh, and by the way, that little girl that asked Santa for happiness for Christmas, her name is Hope! (What a coinkydink, right?!) I believe that if we take the time to look outside of ourselves and to pour into the people around us, we can help all the “Hopes” out there find joy.

[As I sit here writing this out, I feel like it’s a “God-moment” in that today is the date that I decided to begin these weekly motivational posts and that it’s MLK day, which led me to finding this quote right after hearing a sermon involving a story about a little girl named Hope.]

“… I can do small things in a great way.” We (you and I) have the power to make such a difference in our world through the smallest things! This week, let’s do our best to spread joy, let’s pray for Hope and for hope, and, if we cannot do great things, let’s be sure to do the little things in a great way!

Have a great week, friends!

Motivation