Before and Afters

My sweet little Mira is going through a unbelievably cute stage. I was working in the yard yesterday and I opened a bag of bark. I pulled out a handful to place next to the flowers and she yelled, " Oh, Mom, it's so BEAUTIFUL."  

At first I thought that she was talking about the flowers we had just planted, but no, she was talking about the mulch.  She is insanely passionate about things that always take me by surprise.  

When I was giving her lunch I warned her to be careful because her food was still hot. To which she replied, "No Mom, it's not hot...it's beautiful." 

I can't help but be inspired by her view of life. I can't help but hope that as she experiences the mulchy part of my mothering, she'll view it as something worthwhile.  I can't help but covet her optimism.  

Here are a few before and after shots.  Don't you just love seeing what things can become? Do you ever wonder what you can become?   I just love the thought that maybe, just maybe, in a few years I'll be able to be a little bit better. A little more patient, a little more tolerant, a little more compassionate and kind. 

Maybe I won't get upset when I see someone has left the milk out all morning, or get frustrated when my kids scream the whole time I'm at the store.  Eventually those things will stop happening, but in the process I hope that I will change as well.    I hope to be able to discover inner beauty, something that I wouldn't have guessed was even possible.    

"It's never too late to be what you might have been."

~George Elliot

"I want to be all that I am capable of becoming."

~ Katherine Mansfield

"There are powers inside of you which, if you could discover and use, would make of you everything you ever dreamed or imagined you could become."

~ Orison Swett Marsden

"The nearest way to glory is to strive to be what you wish to be thought to be."

- Socrates

"Just because fate doesn't deal you the right cards, it doesn't mean you should give up. It just means you have to play the cards you get to their maximum potential."

~ Les Brown

"You have to live the life you were born to live."

~ The Sound of Music 

"It is far better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you are not."

~ Unknown

"I want to be all that I am capable of becoming."

~ Katherine Mansfield

"Sometimes we live our lives like puzzle pieces turned upside. Then along comes life, and it starts flipping them over, showing us and the world who we are."

~ Manifest

"Many of us are like Clark Kent, walking around but rarely showing anyone our red capes."

~ Manifest

"And that was it. Right there. Right there. That was the moment. I suddenly realized that unless something changed soon . . . And so I made a major decision . I decided to take control of my life."

~ Bridget Jones's Diary

"First, say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do."

~ Epictetus

"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least."

~ Goethe

"Who are we? We are children of God. Our potential is unlimited. Our inheritance is sacred. May we always honor that heritage — in every thought and deed." -Russell M. Nelson

“There is no man living who isn't capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.”
~Henry Ford

"Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!" ~Anne Frank

You are the only you there is, do a good job of it.
~Andy