“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful;
for beauty is God’s handwriting . . . Welcome it and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.”
~ Ralph Emerson

No matter what I said, it didn’t seem to make a difference.

My ten-year-old son, Josh, came home from school, feeling grumpy from the day. There was just too much homework. As he looked into his week and the next, a string of assignments were piled on top of each other.

Poor guy, I felt bad for Josh. But as my husband, Eric, always tells me — what he learned from his first-aid training from his Army days — Step 1. Calm the casualty.

“Everything’s going to be okay. Don’t worry. I’ll help you,”  I tried to reassure him, but Josh was not convinced, looking more discouraged by the minute.

Quite honestly, I started feeling stressed myself. Just thinking about all his different projects was making me feel grumpy inside too. Okay, I told myself. Calm the casualty. Calm the casualty.

“Look, all you have to do is . . .” I proceeded to give him some good advice, to reason his worries away, by giving him time management strategies to get things done.

That’s when things started getting worse.

“You’re making me feel more stressed, Mom!”  Josh was now more overwhelmed than when I began talking to him. Then, I remembered what I learned going through my own season of anxiety. What calmed me wasn’t reasons why I shouldn’t worry or advice to solve my problems.

What brought my soul calm and peace was… (to be continued)

…To read the rest of “Get Some Sunshine and Vitamins For Your Soul Today”, click here and join me over at DaySpring’s (in)courage site, where today’s post is published.

Pause. Get soul refreshed.  Join me there.  Share a comment. I’d love your company.

{photo by Kelly Ishmael}