Love and Inclusion




My sister first shared this poem on our instagram page in December. 
It has been one of my favorites since my teen years when the mother of my high school boyfriend first shared it with me during a time of dealing with toxic and difficult people. It is a short poem, easy to remember and always applicable. Especially now. February is the month of love. 
Typically romantic love, but as the ever growing 
"Galentines" movement would suggest, that 
tends to leave a lot of people out. 
And as this poem suggests, we 
here at the JOYsisters are all 
about inclusion and loving 
EVERYONE
We want  you to feel at home here. 
Drawn in, as the poem suggests. 

Outwitted
He drew a circle that shut me out —
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!

~ Edwin Markham

I happen to live in a part of the country that experiences frigid winter temps, short days and often little motivation to go outside from November to May. 
This can get isolating, 
lonely 
and typically causes me to withdraw. 
One of the aspects of my OLW, THRIVE is to make and keep meaningful connections. When I go into hibernation mode during these dark winter months and withdrawl, it is more of an effort for me to 
reach out. 
What do you do to stay connected, 
gather in those you love, and thrive? ~HH

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OWL More

Image
I started thinking about my OLW for this year a couple weeks ago. Usually picking out my word is a strenuous process. And usually I forget what it is by about May or June. I knew I wanted this year to be different. I’m very music oriented. I can’t sing or play an instrument but there is usually a song playing in my head. I wasn’t surprised when my usual 80’s internal soundtrack switched to a hymn from church. I’ve been instructed by the Lord through music often. But when it got louder when I thought about my OLW,  I knew I’d better pay attention. If you google LDS hymn number 131 More Holiness Give Me you can sing along. My word for 2018 is MORE. And I’ll be focusing each month on a specific MORE.  January will be MORE fitness.  February is MORE self care.  March will be MORE obedience.  I’ve got all 12 months assigned a focus point. Over the next week or so I’ll write some more specifics for each month. For January I’ll be joining a dietbet. I’ll be exercising
Read more

Vision, Goals, Plans

Image
I am a visual person.  And though we all learn in different ways, I think for all of us, seeing something helps us process, and understand.  I have always found it interesting that when a person loses one of their senses, or is born without something like sight, their body often compensates with other senses.  When we engage our senses in our daily life we can achieve more.  This principle was applied to a wonderful phonics system (my sister HH Shared with me) which I used for my kids when they were younger.  The program had them repeat the sounds of letters with their mouth, see with their eyes as I wrote them, write with their hands, and hear instruction with their ears.  In a month my son's writing ability improved drastically from chicken scratch to beautiful lettering. So I want to take you on a quick little journey and I will need you help and cooperation if YOU are going to be able to VISUALIZE the end field: Imagine for a minute with me.  Close your eyes and think abo
Read more

Self Care Sunday

Image
Hey guys! Lori here! For my OLW in 2018 I chose MORE. MORE of a lot of things. Actually, I had to narrow it down to 12, one for each month. For February the MORE is Self-Care. I’m going to get real for a minute, vulnerable. It’s not something I’m very good at. I have a pretty tough outer shell but let me try to open one of the cracks for you and expose the soft center…just for a minute.  I’m a nurturer by nature. I always have been. When I was a young mother (and I do mean young....too young actually) I didn’t understand that to be my best self I had to take time for myself. I had to find what recharged my batteries and do it. I had a hard time feeling like I was good at being a mom. (I have battled depression and anxiety since I was 13) I felt like I was running on empty all the time.  Because I was.   As I got older I found things that made me feel good. Some were destructive to myself (emotional eating) and some were bad for my marriage (emotional spending). Some were good
Read more

All You Need is a Book!

Image
Thank you Heather Bell {from @writeitout6} for guest blogging with us here at theJOYsisters this week! We are loving all of the different voices and perspectives on reading that each of us have to offer. We look forward to working with Heather again in the future and encourage you to check her out over on Instagram and to visit her blog ! The first experience I can remember regarding reading was when I was five years old.  I was "reading" Goodnight Moon  and my sister nicely forced me to memorize the book.  If I missed a word, she made me start over. Quite the slave driver at age seven!  But I remember loving it and feeling the magic of being able to "read" a book. I still have that book memorized and have read it many times to my kids. I think we've gone through two copies. The first experience I can remember with a book that profoundly affected me was in fourth grade. I read Number the Stars , by Lois Lowry.  I couldn't put it down.  I was caught u
Read more