Get Your House in Order: A Warm Welcome

"The second is this:'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 

There is no commandment greater than these."

Mark 12:31

Boston is ready to see his new house and meet the neighbors! Not so sure they are ready for him!
He's a roamer, even with his collar, he sometimes will just take the short term pain to get out the yard! A little rebellious, but very sweet. This past Christmas he went missing for a few minutes and came into the driveway with a brand new bag of bones in his mouth, tail wagging, not one bit of worry. He also is known for eating any morsel of food off the counter, but usually it is things like a whole cake or loaf of bread, why fool with morsels..haha!

As he gets older, he sleeps later, he is more calm, needs more attention and consistently, he is always glad to see us. He gives us a warm welcome whether we have been gone ten minutes or ten days. Therefore, I am always glad to see him, he radiates love, it's just his nature. I thought about this today when I pulled up and there he went bouncing through the yard (literally), ran up to the car and stuck that big nose on my lap. It made me think about how I make others feel. Especially those closest to me, do I give them a warm welcome? A smile goes such a long way. Do I come in and immediately go to them, dropping everything else (phone, thoughts,etc) even if just for a few minutes to inquire about their day?

Some days I am better at it than others. But I do want to make more of an effort to do so. I pray that the Lord will keep my heart aware of my attitude, in my comings and goings. That I am more interested in what my crew have going on today than checking email, flipping through facebook or instagram. It's so easy to get distracted. There are so many time fillers these days! I tried a little test this week of purposely leaving my phone in my purse more, only checking social media once or twice a day and making better choices with my time. Results....less stress, more time to just hang out with the kids, enjoy dinner and get to bed earlier.

It's all about balance. I struggle with it. We all do. Just like Boston I have my lists of things that certainly are not my highlights. Reading through proverbs has been a good way to study through some of those character flaws and seek instruction from the Lord. So much in life we have no control of, yet in my mind I still think I can. Having the courage to change the things I can, has been a huge turnaround for me. And waking up, showing up and living it up with a warm welcome and a smile is something I can change. It gives me more time for family and less tech time. I am good with that.

On that note, let me close and get off this computer...smile! Have a wonderful day! Give those you love a warm welcome (in a big brown labradoodle kinda way)!

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Blessings,

Suzanne