Blessings & Thanksgiving

The past few days have been pretty eventful for the Savage Girl. Now, my idea of eventful and yours might totally be different, but I love my life and that is all that matters! Sometimes I wish I could push “pause” and be able to soak it in more, but I know things must continue forward. Pressing rewind sometimes can cause emotions to rise so I believe we need to keep moving forward down the road of life because something better might be waiting around the corner and you will not know about it unless you seek to discover it. If you are in a constant rewind reliving the past how can you ever move forward?

Tonight after thinking, reflecting, and “rewinding” a little about everything that has occurred over the course of the last week I can truly say that I’m blessed and thankful. Keep in mind I am not dwelling on these things…I am just expressing the reasons why I have blessings and thanksgiving this week! 

Family. This past weekend I got to spend Easter weekend with my parents. We traveled to Gainesboro, TN and enjoyed dinner at The Bull and Thistle. Then on Sunday we enjoyed Easter lunch and a little quality time together. Mama and I took a walk on Sunday despite the weather. We were a sight to see with our jackets and umbrellas walking in the rain on the back roads around the Boles community and the family farm, but I would not have traded my day for anything!

Friends. You do not have to see good friends and be 100% in contact with them on a daily basis for them to be called "good friends". It is nice to get random phone calls just because they were thinking of you for whatever reason. With good friends you can pick up exactly where you left off and it is as if you never were out of the picture. Good friends can feed and clothe you. Literally they can do this by providing you with a place to stay, food to eat, and clothes to wear. Then sometimes good friends feed and clothe you figuratively by their actions, strength, and courage. It might be a smile, an encouraging word, a gift, or a reaffirming word saying that you matter. A fellow Christian sister recently shared with me that sometimes you just have to put on your “heavenly attitude”. We do not need to be the “mean girl”…we need to be the person God wants us to be despite the past and if a good friend is really a “good friend” then they should want both parties to be practicing forgiveness, godliness, and contentment. I am also thankful for new friends that have been brought into my life this week. I love building friendships and strong relationships both personally and professionally.  

Work vs. Career. I have a job that I love. Sometimes it is “work” because it is either physically or mentally tiring. This week I have been working on our budget at work, so needless to say I have been crunching a few numbers and this has been “work” for me, but I am thankful for having I job I love! Other times my job is my “career” like in the past few days. This week I got glimpse of the future for our community and I was reminded of the reason I love giving back and serving in my community. We can change the world. It doesn't matter if we are “kids” or “grownups”. What matters is that we all work together and it will go faster…look at the Kid President!  

My goal for my career is to improve the quality of lives of local citizens.  I am usually reminded of my “career” in fun moments...like learning to weave the bottom of a stool with fellow workshop participants, reaching over 200 “likes” on The Heart of Tompkinsville Foundation Facebook page, and helping to decorate our downtown. Weird you might say…I’m sure you are asking why did you think of your career in these moments? Well, these things were fun and I have happy memories that take me back to previous months in my career when the planning and development stages were occurring. I was reminded by the people I am serving in the community that learning is lifelong & can occur at any age if you want to learn. Learning can come in many forms! Learning inspires people to constantly be thinking about improving themselves and the others around them through citizenship and personal development.

The Downtown Decoration Committee that I am chairing had to think “outside of the box” to actually create a vision for our Spring decorations. With a little of this “outside of the box” thinking the idea of maypole inspired decorations was discussed, planned out, and put into action. I believe these simple decorations downtown can help get others in the community get excited and fired up about our future locally that local leadership is currently trying to create and discover within our local community which in turn would benefit all citizens.Have you got any ideas Summer decorations?    

Movement. I have a couple of different ways that I relieve stress and both of them use movement. First, I enjoy working out at the pool at our local Family Wellness Center doing water aerobics. This week I have been able to get some “movement” action 6 times within the past week. YAY! It’s all about priorities and goals. Have you set any lately? Second, I enjoy expressing my words on this blog. Somehow typing moves the thoughts out of my brain so that I can make room for more important things…like the things I have been trying to focus more on lately. I want to thank those of you who read my blog and have expressed to me such kind words of encouragement! Thank you.

Fellowship. I few months ago I was asked to join a book club. I am not an avid reader like my sister Anna who is a librarian, but I knew that this group of ladies would help and challenge me in multiple ways and be a source of encouragement & Christian fellowship. So far they have yet to let me down! This month we read Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly. Everyone stepped outside of their comfort zones when our April hostess suggested the book, but after our book club discussion this week we were all pleasantly surprised of the knowledge that was gained and found when reading someone’s opinion and recount on a moment in American history. We all concluded that history read today as an adult is so much more entertaining than when you got grades for it in school!       

Family. Friends. Work vs. Career. Movement. Fellowship. For all these things I am thankful and blessed. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7. 

In closing, I was reminded of what my name meant this week, so I thought I would share it with you. I know this Savage Girl needs reminded of this from time to time so here you go...lucky for me I have a constant reminder of it since it is my name! :)