Confession

I have a confession.  I am not very sweet towards my kids when they wake up in the morning.  I have this expectation that they should sleep until a certain time and when they don't, I am not very nice... which is practically every morning!  Isn't that crazy!!  Seriously?!  I don't even know where it came from or when it started!?!  I only know that it's been ruining our mornings. 

Expectations can be dangerous.  In my case, they are a set-up for disappointment.  I don't want to make my kids feel like I am disappointed in them every morning just because they woke up!  Good grief!!  I'm finally letting this one go!  I want and need to enjoy the start of each new day and my kids need to know how happy I am to see them, no matter what time it is.  I still can have rules, like no TV before such and such a time or I won't start to help with breakfast until 7 AM, but enough with all the tiptoeing around and all the "shushing." 

There, I feel better now that I got that out.  I want to practice hospitality in the morning, meaning I want to greet my kids with a smile and show them love.  More and more I am realizing how precious each new day is and just how much I have to be thankful for.  How selfish of me to be grumpy because some one woke up when I thought he or she should still be sleeping.  Being gracious isn't the result of an accepted invitation, but it's what prompted the invitation in the first place.  Hospitality comes from a heart of love.  I love my children, therefore, I must show them, even if it's only 6:15 in the morning :-)